UCSB  LIBRARY 

y 


Woman  and  the  Race 


By 

Gordon  Hart 


PBICE  $1,  POSTPAID 

PUBLISHED  AT  TUB  ABIBL  PR  EBB 

WEBTWOOD,  MASS.,  U.S.A. 


Copyright  1907 
By  George  Elmer  Littlefleld 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAOB 

I.   INNOCENCE  VERSUS  IGNORANCE  ...  7 

II.   FLOWER  BABIES  ........  30 

III.  WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME     50 

IV.  MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY 72 

V.   A  REAL  PATERNITY 102 

VI.   THE  PERFECT  BODY 124 

VII.   KING  MIND 163 

VIII.   THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY  .     .     .  183 

IX.   MARRIAGE  —  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL  .     .  207 

X.   THE  JOY  OF  LIFE 248 


HOSE  who  are  looking  for  Truth,  who 

follow  her,  footsore  and  buffetted, 
Through    devious    ways    and    into    the 
wilderness, 

Disdaining  alike  the  pain  of   personal  wounds   and 
the  scorn  of  those  who  pass  by, 

Are  likely,  from  their  very  vehemence  and  indiffer- 
ence to  martyrdom, 

To  die  violent  social  deaths. 

This  is  not  a  misfortune. 

Since    the    earliest   life   of   man   the   death  or  dis- 
grace of  the  few 

Has  purchased  Truth  for  the  unseeing  many. 

Let  it  be  so ;  we  have  no  quarrel  with  the  scheme 
of  things. 

The  millions  of  the  majority  will  continue  to  cry : 
"  Crucify ! " 

While  they  profit   by  the   riches  that   fall  from  the 
men  at  whom  they  hoot. 

And  Jesus  and  Galileo  turn  upon   them   looks  of 
gentleness 

And  words  of  pitying  parable, 

And  continue  their  communing  with  the  Unknown, 
serene  and  unmoved ; 

For  they  know,  as  all  seekers  after  Truth  know  at 
last, 

That  at  the  bottom  of  all  her  mysteries,  lies  Love. 

He  is  greatest  who  loves  most; 

And  evil  and  pain  and  disgrace  must  be  loved  out 
of  existence ; 


And  this  is  the  only  way. 

Legislation,  punishment,  public  opinion, 

These  are  as  shadow  and  north  winds  to  the  ailing 
plant. 

What  it  needs  is  the  sun,  strong,  warm,  invigor- 
ating. 

This  is  what  the  unfortunate  need. 

What  does  that  sorrowing  woman  need  with  her 
eyes  upon  the  ground? 

Love,  love,  and  more  love ; 

The  arms  of  a  fellow-woman  about  her, 

Whispers  of  sisterhood, 

A  finger  pointed  to  a  future  of  glad  possibilities. 

What  does  the  brazen  evil-doer  need,  man  as  well 
as  woman? 

Love,  love,  love. 

That,  in  its  light,  things  base  and  insufficient  may 
shovv  themselves  truly, 

And  hands  be  stretched  for  the  best. 

It  is  not  more  knowledge  that  we  need ;  it  is  more 
love. 


TO 
THE    YOUNG    WOMEN    OF  AMERICA 


HO  take  pride  in  sound  and  beautiful 
bodies  which  are  required  for  their  own 
perfection  of  womanhood  and  the  needs 
of  the  race; 

Who  believe  that  all  God's  laws  are  wise  and 
lovely,  and  who,  therefore,  are  not  afraid  to 
study  the  needs  of  their  own  natures,  nor  ashamed 
to  avow  them ; 

Who  believe  in  Love  and  the  beauty  of  mutual 
service ; 

Who  realize  that  a  childish  dependence  and  an  un- 
trained or  frivolous  mind  are  unfavorable  to  the 
advancement  of  womanhood  and  therefore  to  the 
progress  of  the  world ; 

Who  glory  in  their  fully-understood  femininity,  and 
who  will  not  rest  till  they  stand  in  the  eyes  of 
society  upon  the  level  ground  of  a  moral  equality 
with  the  men  they  love; 

Who  recognize  the  bearing  and  rearing  of  children 
as  their  highest  duty  and  their  supreme  joy ; 

This  book  is  earnestly  and  affectionately  dedicated. 


INNOCENCE   VERSUS    IGNORANCE 


CHAPTER    I 


N  spite  of  the  distinct  and 
powerful  changes  that,  in  the 
last  half-century,  have  drawn 
woman  from  her  snail-shell 
of  credulous,  acquiescent  de- 
pendence into  the  open  air 
of  a  reasonable  affranchisement,  we  cannot 
confidently  assume  that  she  is  fully  alive 
to  her  position. 

In  the  world  of  thought,  as  in  the  scheme 
of  heredity,  man  is  distinctly  the  radical  and 
progressive,  woman  the  conservative  and 
persisting  element.  Our  social  and  religious 
reformers  among  womankind,  with  all  their 
adherents  and  imitators,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  constitute  but  a  handful  of  peb- 
bles from  the  sea-shore  of  a  submissive  and 
tradition-ridden  femininity. 

Woman  for  the  most  part,  are  content  to 
be  ignorant;  satisfied  with  the  mere  smat- 
tering of  a  subject;  happy  with  a  few  catch- 
words and  phrases,  and  the  repetition  of  the 
thoughts  of  others;  afraid  to  express  an 


8  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

opinion  of  a  book  or  play  until  some  rec- 
ognized authority  has  given  his  verdict; 
dependent  upon  the  decisions  of  another 
for  so-called  personal  convictions. 

A  well-known  woman  scientist  once  said 
to  me:  "I  have  given  up  trying  to  teach 
women  anything;  they  only  want  'A,  B, 
C's;'  I  have  got  as  far  as  the  'Ab, — Abs,' 
now;  but  I  can't  find  any  other  women  who 
care  to  go  on  to  the  'a,  b,-abs.'" 

When  women  are  no  longer  contented 
with  superficial  learning,  with  mere  surface 
investigation,  with  unsustained  impulse,  with 
borrowed  thoughts,  then  shall  we  have  in 
our  feminine  half  of  mankind  the  deep 
thinkers,  the  real  students  that  the  world 
expects  and  needs. 

It  would  almost  seem  as  if  women  prided 
themselves  upon  certain  forms  of  ignorance. 
The  average  woman's  knowledge  of  her  own 
physical  make-up,  and  of  the  needs  of  her 
body,  is,  in  its  meagreness,  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  her  knowledge  on  less  impor- 
tant matters. 

Imagine,  if  you  can,  a  woman  starting  to 
run  a  sewing  machine  with  a  dim  notion 
of  its  requirements,  a  vague  idea  as  to  the 
modus  operandi.  She  has  heard  that  a  ma- 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCE  9 

chine  requires  oiling,  so  she  occasionally 
pours  a  cupful  of  oil  over  the  entire  in- 
strument. She  turns  the  wheel  sometimes 
in  one  direction,  sometimes  in  another.  It 
would  seem  inevitable  that,  after  this 
treatment  has  many  times  resulted  in  soiled 
and  ill-sewn  work,  the  lesson  would  be 
learned.  And  so  we  will  suppose  it  is,  after 
the  mechanism  is  twisted  and  distorted,  the 
machine  rendered  hopelessly  unfit  for  future 
use.  We  will  suppose  that  the  machine, 
being  solidly  put  together,  occasionally 
turns  out  fairly  good  work  in  spite  of  mis- 
use and  abuse;  and  that  the  worker,  having 
harmed  her  own  machine,  with  the  glim- 
mering of  an  idea  that  some  mistake  has 
been  made,  advises  the  novice  to  inform 
herself  as  to  the  management  of  her  bright 
new  instrument.  All  this  sounds  like  ab- 
surdity. Some  one  says:  "No  woman  would 
be  so  foolish."  Perhaps  not, — with  a  sew- 
ing-machine! 

Of  the  delicate  mechanism  of  the  human 
body,  —  the  thing  materially  speaking,  of 
paramount  importance  to  a  woman,  of  its 
requisite  nourishment,  of  the  requirements 
of  its  development  and  the  essentials  to  a 
healthy  condition,  of  these  she  is  profound- 
ly and  wilfully  ignorant. 


10  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

She  has  heard  some  one  speak  of  a  liver 
that  was  out  of  order,  so  she  knows  that 
somewhere  she  has  a  liver;  sometimes,  pre- 
sumably because  of  an  inherent  malevolence, 
it  gets  out  of  order;  its  place  in  the  body, 
or  its  functions,  are  not  her  affair.  If  the 
stomach,  of  which  she  has  a  vague  notion, 
refuses  to  submit  without  protest  to  a  lunch 
of  oyster  patties,  lobster  salad,  and  eclairs, 
she  is  a  hardly-used  and  deeply-afflicted 
member  of  society;  and  if  a  continued  diet 
of  this  description  results  in  anemia  and  in- 
digestion, drugs  and  stimulants  are  resorted 
to;  and  that  panacea  of  the  rich — a  change 
of  air — is  deemed  essential  to  the  poor 
sufferer. 

It  may  be  contended  with  some  show  of 
justice,  that  ignorance  of  this  kind  is  not 
confined  to  one  sex;  at  the  same  time  it 
cannot  be  gainsaid  that  the  ignorance  of 
women  in  these  matters,  as  the  caterers  for 
the  family,  and  the  governors  of  the  house- 
hold, as  the  educators  of  the  children,  and 
especially  as  the  more  deeply-concerned 
and  responsible  of  the  two  in  the  matter 
of  parentage,  is  by  far  the  more  serious 
concern. 

The  average  society  woman   delights  in 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCF  II 

fashion,  and  has  pressed  the  stomach  a 
number  of  inches  below  where  it  belongs, 
crowded  down  the  intestines,  and  pushed 
the  reproductive  organs  out  of  place  with 
a  tight  corset;  and  when  the  time  comes 
for  her  to  fulfil  her  natural  function  and 
bear  children,  she  wails  in  agony  to  a  God 
whose  laws  she  has  persistently  disregarded 
to  relieve  her  of  a  punishment  for  which 
she  alone  is  responsible. 

Thus  it  is  that,  while  maternity  should 
be  a  joy  and  a  pride,  it  is  seemingly  looked 
upon  in  the  majority  of  cases  in  the  Amer- 
ica of  today  as  a  calamity  calling  for  con- 
dolence, a  "visitation  of  Providence"  to  be 
ranked  with  diphtheria  and  typhoid. 

We  must  not  forget,  in  thus  arraigning 
the  sex,  that  reform  in  this  direction  is  be- 
ing vigorously  prosecuted,  that  a  hundred 
are  today  studying  and  endeavoring  to  better 
conditions  where  in  the  past  there  was 
but  one;  that  physiology  is  taught  in  our 
public  schools  with  a  reality  and  interest 
unknown  in  days  gone  by.  The  leaven  is 
working,  but  the  lump  is  solid. 

To  the  average  man  and  woman,  we  are 
driven  to  believe,  the  idea  of  sex  is  of  a 
thing  that  is  low  and  unmentionable:  the 


12  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

very  word  suggests  a  blush.  The  physical 
differences  between  a  man  and  a  woman, 
their  mutual  attraction  and  its  design  in  na- 
ture,—  these  are  subjects  to  be  tabooed, 
treated  as  if  non-existent,  carefully  elimi- 
nated from  the  teaching  of  a  child.  The 
child  of  today  is  the  father  or  mother  of 
the  race  of  tomorrow.  In  what  way  does 
he  learn  of  the  laws  governing  reproduction, 
of  sex-differences  and  sex-impulses?  He 
picks  his  information  out  of  the  gutter.  The 
things  his  parents  are  ashamed  to  speak  of 
to  him  he  learns,  greedily  enough,  it  may 
be,  from  the  coarse  mind  of  a  servant,  or 
from  the  unwholesome  imaginings  of  an  older 
boy  at  school ;  learns  of  them  in  a  way  to 
debase  his  coming  manhood,  to  leave  his 
mind  the  prey  of  evil  images,  his  body  an  in- 
strument for  suggested  and  secret  vice. 

The  most  important  of  all  our  social  actions 
is  the  one  on  which  educators  are  uniformly 
silent;  the  only  temptations  that  are  inevi- 
table to  a  boy  are  the  only  ones  for  which 
he  is  totally  unprepared  by  any  wise  in- 
struction on  the  part  of  parent  or  teacher. 
Surely  this  is  the  veriest  folly.  Do  we  im- 
agine that  knowledge  of  sex-life  will  be 
hidden  from  a  child  because  we  are  too 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCF  13 

prudish  or  too  stupid  to  give  it  to  him? 
Or  do  we  imagine  that  the  legitimate  knowl- 
edge will  filter  into  his  brain  as  the  air  does 
into  his  lungs? 

Many  parents  who  really  wish  to  do  their 
duty  in  this  regard  make  the  mistake  of  fear- 
ing to  put  into  the  minds  of  their  children 
thoughts  that  would  not  otherwise  come  to 
them.  If  this  were  a  danger,  if  it  were  a 
question  as  to  whether  a  child  should  be 
kept  in  ignorance  of  his  bodily  functions  or 
be  made  acquainted  with  them,  whether  he 
should  be  forewarned  against  inevitable 
temptation  or  left  to  meet  it  without  pre- 
vious teaching,  there  might  be  ground  for 
an  argument  in  favor  of  ignorance.  There 
is  no  such  question.  The  very  small  child 
has  a  growing  curiosity,  natural  and  legiti- 
mate; if  he  goes  to  his  parents  with  his 
questions  and  they  are  met  by  equivocations, 
he  will  know  it  and  take  his  difficulties  else- 
where; if  they  are  met  by  lies  he  will  speed- 
ily find  it  out,  and  his  old  faith  in  his 
parents  will  be  gone  for  ever.  Suppose  him 
to  be  an  unimaginative  child,  incurious,  and 
unlikely  to  trouble  himself  to  inquire  else- 
where for  answers  to  questions  that  have 
been  set  aside  at  home;  there  are  ninety- 


14  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

nine  chances  in  a  hundred  that  an  evil-mind- 
ed companion  will  pull  the  veil  rudely  from 
the  eyes  of  the  little  one,  and  make  him 
aware,  hideously  enough,  of  what  might 
have  been  presented  to  him  as  a  high  and 
holy  thing. 

A  mother,  living  not  far  from  New  York 
City,  a  woman  of  high  ideals  and  infinite 
tenderness,  and  devoted  to  her  children  with 
a  yearning,  protecting  love,  sent  her  young 
son  to  school  with  many  prayers.  He  was 
only  eight  years  old,  but  there  were  no  good 
schools  in  the  place  where  she  lived,  and 
as  she  was  a  woman  of  wealth,  one  of  the 
best  and  most  expensive  boarding  schools 
in  the  city  was  selected  for  him.  On  the 
evening  of  his  return  from  his  first  term  his 
mother  went  to  his  bedside  and  heard  him 
say  his  prayers.  At  their  conclusion  she 
whispered,  fondly  smoothing  his  hair:  "Has 
my  boy  done  anything  while  he  was  away 
that  would  have  made  mother  sorry?" 

"Yes,  Mother,"  he  said  slowly,  "but  you 
will  have  to  put  out  the  gas.  I  couldn't 
tell  you  in  the  light." 

Sick  with  a  dreadful  anticipation,  the 
mother  put  out  the  gas  and  took  the  boy's 
hot  hand.  And  into  the  ears  of  the  mother. 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCE  15 

who  would  have  given  her  life  to  keep  her 
child  pure  and  clean,  he  poured  a  tale  of 
his  first  night  in  the  dormitory  at  school;  a 
tale  of  doings  so  infinitely  revolting  that  a 
printed  description  would  be  impossible. 

Investigation  has  shown  that  the  school 
in  question  did  not  supply,  by  any  means, 
a  peculiar  or  isolated  instance  of  evil-doing; 
similar  hideous  enormities  are,  unfortunately, 
but  too  well  known  to  many  of  the  boys  of 
our  public  and  private  schools. 

Which  would  be  more  likely  to  pollute 
his  body  at  the  suggestion  of  evil  compan- 
ions,— the  boy  whose  parents  have  sent  him 
from  home  without  a  word  of  warning,  or 
the  boy  whose  father  or  mother  had  rever- 
ently and  wisely  spoken  to  him  of  the  high 
and  holy  uses  of  his  physical  frame,  taught 
him  that  by  his  boyish  purity  he  would 
bring  a  blessing  upon  the  little  children 
which  God  would  one  day  entrust  to  him, 
made  him  realize  that  chastity  and  clean 
thought  would  bring  him  the  only  true 
manliness? 

The  situation  resolves  itself  into  the  ques- 
tion: Shall  my  child  learn  of  these  things 
from  me,  beautifully,  and  in  a  way  that  will 
lead  him  to  reverence  himself  and  woman- 


l6  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

hood,  or  shall  he  learn  of  them  evilly  from 
companions  whose  thoughts  are  impure  and 
unwholesome,  and  whose  words  will  fasten 
themselves  upon  his  mind,  the  hideous  im- 
ages and  coarse  expletives  never  to  be  ob- 
literated from  his  soul  so  long  as  he  lives? 

A  woman  who  loses  the  opportunity  to 
bind  her  child  to  herself  by  relating  to  him 
the  wonderful  story  of  his  antenatal  life 
near  to  the  mother-heart,  has  only  herself 
to  thank  when  she  misses  the  devotion  that 
might  be  hers.  Better  to  tell  the  story  a 
year  too  soon  than  be  a  minute  later  than 
the  evil-thinking  school-mate  or  the  coarse- 
minded  servant. 

The  difficulty  seems  to  hinge  upon  the 
fact,  previously  referred  to,  that  the  parent 
himself  or  herself,  having  no  very  exalted 
idea  of  the  sex-relation,  instinctively  real- 
izes that  it  is  impossible  to  present  a  truth 
in  a  beautiful  way  that  is  not  beautiful  to 
one's  own  perception. 

This  extraordinary  attitude  towards  life 
would  be  amusing  were  it  not  so  common 
and  so  disastrous  in  its  consequences.  It  is 
well  nigh  incomprehensible  that  a  man  or  a 
woman  who  believes  in  God  can  charac- 
terize as  impure  the  fundamental  principle 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCE  Ij 

upon  which  He  planned  the  world,  can  ques- 
tion the  delicacy  of  the  Almighty!  Either 
the  relation  of  man  and  woman  is  beautiful 
and  holy,  or  it  is  indecent  and  unclean;  if 
it  is  the  latter,  it  argues  an  indecent  and 
unclean  mind  on  the  part  of  its  designer. 

Hold  Shopenhauer's  theory  of  life,  that 
physical  existence  is  a  mistake,  a  fatal  error, 
that  we  came  down  into  Matter  through 
our  own  wilful  act,  and  that  now  that  we 
are  here  we  must  make  the  best  of  it,  and 
the  position  of  the  shame-faced  prude  is  an 
honest  one.  Then,  every  child  conceived 
is  a  repetition  of  the  original  sin,  inasmuch 
as  it  perpetuates  material  life;  and,  being 
sin,  is  a  thing  to  be  blushed  for.  But  to 
the  man  who  believes  the  existing  oider  of 
things  to  be  the  result  of  Divine  intention 
or  a  part  of  Nature's  great  evolutionary 
scheme,  there  is  no  such  excuse.  To  him 
all  the  existing  physical  laws  must,  logically, 
be  harmonious  and  lovely.  Then  there  can 
be,  naturally,  no  such  thing  as  shame  in  this 
connection. 

The  physical  body  in  a  healthy  state  is 
absolutely  beautiful;  beautiful  in  its  appear- 
ance and  development,  beautiful  in  its  power 
of  endurance  and  its  capacity  for  enjoyment, 


1 8 WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

beautiful  in  the  wondrous  ability  and  deli- 
cacy with  which  it  interprets  the  thoughts 
of  the  mind  and  the  light  of  the  soul. 

If  we  are  ashamed  of  aught  connected 
with  our  wonderful  physical  frames  we  are 
so  just  in  proportion  as  we  fail  to  compre- 
hend the  mind  of  God. 

The  thrill  that  takes  you,  O  maiden,  when 
the  young  man's  hand  touches  yours,  what 
does  it  mean?  Is  it  an  evil  thing?  Then  is 
God  evil.  Is  it  a  foolish  thing?  Then  is  God 
not  all-wisdom.  It  is  the  cloud  in  the  sky 
foretelling  the  shower  that  is  to  come  when 
the  brown  earth  calls  for  it;  it  is  the  first 
glint  of  dawning  gold  that  reveals  the  sun. 
The  rain  might  devastate  the  earth,  the  sun 
might  blister  and  destroy  all  living  things; 
but  the  plan  is  not  so.  That  yearning 
sympathy  for  the  woes  of  helpless  things; 
that  tender  desire  to  give  and  spare  not, 
that  powerful  emotion  of  yearning  love  for 
the  young,  an  emotion  which  you  neither 
analyze  nor  understand,  —  is  the  eternal 
craving  for  motherhood,  the  unexplained, 
undefined  hunger  which  distinguishes  you 
so  clearly  from  the  masculine  creature  to 
whom  you  instinctively  turn. 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCE          19 

That  boyish  attempt  to  protect  your  girl- 
companion,  the  emotion  that  thrills  through 
you  when  she  looks  to  you  for  help,  the 
new  joy  in  the  outside  world  that  fills  your 
heart,  O  lad  with  the  fresh  down  upon 
your  lip,  what  do  these  things  mean  ?  They 
are  the  assertion,  the  confirmation  of  the 
exquisite  law  of  sex,  they  are  the  indications 
of  virility,  the  promise  of  what  may  be  a 
glorious,  noble  manhood. 

Is  there  shame  in  the  rosy  blossom  that 
receives  into  her  heart  where  the  hidden 
seedlings  lie  the  life-giving  pollen?  Is  there 
shame  in  the  gorgeous  plumage  of  the  male 
bird  as  he  woos  his  mate  with  sweet  devices  ? 

There  is  no  secrecy  or  self-consciousness 
in  the  nature-world  about  us.  What  ails  us? 

Without  doubt,  our  mode  of  dressing  is 
responsible  for  a  good  deal  of  the  false 
modesty  and  prurient  thought  that  have  built 
about  our  relations  with  one  another  un- 
healthy and  unnecessary  social  barriers. 

If  it  were  possible  for  us  to  stand  face 
to  face  as  we  are,  not  the  productions  of  the 
dressmaker,  nor  a  clothes-horse  on  which  is 
hung  the  work  of  an  unimaginative  tailor, 
nine-tenths  of  the  sin  and  misery  directly 
traceable  to,  and  which  are  the  result  of 


2O  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

vagaries  of  the  sense  imagination,  would  be 
non-existent.  Concealment  engenders  curi- 
osity, and  curiosity  that  has  not  its  birth  in 
a  spiritual  or  mental  craving  is  an  undesir- 
able, useless  and  harmful  thing,  and  an  ex- 
pression of  an  inherent  weakness. 

I  would  not  for  a  moment  be  thought  an 
iconoclast,  sweeping  away  illusions,  betray- 
ing phantasy  into  a  rock-bound  cave  and 
rolling  to  the  door  the  stone  of  realism  that 
is  to  compass  her  death;  on  the  contrary  I 
would  draw  into  the  high  heaven  of  a  spirit- 
ual enjoyment  all  the  sweetness  and  joy  of 
great  romance  and  exquisite  illusion.  I 
would  let  the  fancy  play  among  the  snowy 
hill-tops  of  a  sane  mentality,  not  leave  it, 
pinionless  and  mud-bespattered,  to  grope  in 
the  darkness  of  the  purely  physical  and 
material. 

Innocence  and  ignorance  are  not  synony- 
mous terms,  although  the  average  parent 
thinks  of  them  as  such.  One  would  find  it 
difficult  to  believe  in  the  linguistic  capacity 
of  a  tongue-tied  man;  he  might  become  a 
second  Demosthenes  after  a  surgical  opera- 
tion, but  one  would  hardly  expect  it.  We 
are  not  prepared  to  endorse  the  honesty  of  a 
servant  who  has  charge  onl^  of  a  room  with 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCE         21 

bare  walls  and  empty  cupboards.  And  we 
refuse  to  accept  an  innocence  which  is 
ignorant. 

To  have  found  the  haunt  of  the  snake 
and  to  stand  erect  with  the  foot  upon  it; 
to  comprehend  the  arguments  of  the  atheist 
and  to  say:  "I  believe''; — this  is  innocence. 
To  stand  with  level  brows  gazing  out  upon 
the  world,  to  comprehend  its  sure  pain 
and  as  sure  joy,  to  look  with  unruffled  yet 
sympathetic  soul  upon  sin  and  sorrow, — 
this  is  the  only  true  innocence. 

If  a  boy  suffers  through  lack  of  timely 
instructions  as  to  the  needs  and  temptations 
of  his  body,  the  girl  runs  still  greater  risks. 
Upon  her  rests  the  inalienable  responsibility 
of  motherhood;  her  life  should  be  shaped, 
her  thoughts  held  in  check,  her  physical 
needs  supplied,  her  soul  developed  in  the 
light  of  this  one  great  fact. 

It  has  been  urged  that  you  cannot  inspire 
a  child  with  a  regard  for  the  welfare  of 
future  generations;  this  is  not  so.  A  child 
appealed  to  in  the  right  way,  enters  into  the 
thought  with  a  beautiful  interest,  and  will, 
of  its  own  accord,  further  any  attempt  on 
your  part  so  to  shape  its  life,  so  to  modify 
tendencies  and  build  up  character  that  the 


22  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

little  soul  some  day  to  be  entrusted  to  its 
keeping  may  be  the  wiser,  the  nobler,  the 
more  beautiful. 

Suppose  we  were  to  speak  to  a  child  in 
this  way: 

"Little  one,  some  day  you  may,  perhaps, 
have  a  child  of  your  own,  part  of  yourself 
as  you  are  a  part  of  me;  would  you  like 
that  little  child  of  yours  to  be  great  and 
good  and  beautiful,  or  to  have  a  bad  temper, 
an  ugly  look,  or  an  impatient  or  selfish 
nature?  You  would  like  it  to  be  perfect? 
I  thought  so.  Well,  you  can  make  it  so  if 
you  like,  and  you  can  help  noiv.  How  wide 
you  open  your  eyes!  And  yet  you  look 
like  me,  do  you  not?  And  I  notice  in  you 
the  same  little  ways  that  I  used  to  have 
when  I  was  your  age.  And  you  have  faults 
to  fight  against  now  because  I  did  not  pay 
any  attention  to  them  when  I  was  a  child. 
Whatever  kind  of  nature  you  make  in  your- 
self will  determine  the  nature  of  your  child; 
and  so  if  you  correct  your  faults,  and  try 
to  be  brave,  and  persevering,  and  patient, 
and  pure,  you  are  helping  to  make  good  and 
beautiful  the  little  soul  that  will  some  day 
be  entrusted  to  you."* 

*Se«  booklets  of  Dr.  Mary  Wood-Allen,  Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCE          23 

Such  a  talk,  given  lovingly  and  with  ten- 
der emphasis  and  repeated  in  varying  phra- 
ses from  time  to  time  to  keep  the  thought 
green  and  vital,  will  have  a  more  decided 
and  definite  effect  on  the  child-life  than  all 
the  threats  of  Hell  and  promises  of  Heaven 
which  were  considered  a  necessary  part  of 
the  education  of  our  own  childhood. 

Looking  solely  at  the  physical  side  of 
boy  and  girl  life,  it  would  seem  that  ordin- 
ary common-sense  would  suggest  the  wis- 
dom of  instruction  and  the  dangers  of  igno- 
rance. 

Many  a  boy  has  made  shipwreck  of  his 
physical  and  moral  life  for  want  of  a  few 
fatherly  words,  earnestly  and  forcibly  spoken, 
ere  the  period  of  adolescence,  with  its 
uncomprehended  desires  and  strange  new 
thoughts,  swept  over  the  youthful  soul. 

Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  there  are  many 
mothers  who,  through  carelessness,  or  more 
probably  from  an  extraordinary  and  unjusti- 
fiable reserve  and  shamefacedness,  allow  a 
girl  to  pass  into  womanhood  without  a  word 
as  to  the  significance  of  the  epoch,  without 
a  thought  as  to  the  needs  of  the  young 
mind,  without  a  word  of  the  motherly  sym- 
pathy and  comprehension  which,  knowingly 
or  not,  the  child  craves. 


24  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

A  reputable  woman  physician  practising 
in  New  York  City  made  the  following 
statement  to  the  writer:  "In  view  of  the 
prevalence  of  solitary  vice,  and  the  atmos- 
phere of  sexual  unrest  surrounding  our 
young  people;  in  view,  also  of  the  numerous 
preventives  to  conception  that  are  known 
today;  it  is  held  by  many  physicians  in  this 
city  and  elsewhere  that  it  would  be  wise, 
in  the  interests  of  the  physical  health  of  the 
race,  to  allow  the  same  freedom  in  sexual 
matters  to  girls  as  is  now  accorded  to 
young  men." 

This  statement  needs  no  comment;  that 
such  a  state  of  things  could  be  seriously 
contemplated  by  thinking  medical  specialists, 
materialists  though  they  may  be,  and  lacking 
in  sensibility  and  moral  perception,  will  open 
the  eyes  of  the  guardians  of  the  holiness  of 
young  men  and  women. 

We  must  deprecate  most  seriously  the 
blindness  of  parents  who,  apparently  failing 
to  appreciate  the  dangers  that  surround  their 
daughters,  themselves  lead  them  into  temp- 
tation by  allowing  them  an  unwise  and  un- 
due freedom. 

To  allow  a  girl,  utterly  untaught  by 
parents  in  sexual  matters,  to  come  and 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCE          25 

go  as  she  pleases,  to  walk  and  talk  with 
whom  she  may  choose,  and  at  what  hours 
she  may  prefer,  is  voluntarily  to  expose 
her  to  the  most  obvious  and  inevitable  temp- 
tation. Better  an  over-careful,  over-particu- 
lar, over-watchful  mother,  than  the  practical 
and  unwise  knowledge  of  sexual  intimacies 
that  shows  itself  in  the  private  rooms  of 
our  lying-in  hospitals. 

In  one  instance,  of  many  known  to  the 
writer,  the  petted  darling  of  a  luxurious 
home  occupied  a  room  at  a  private  hospital 
for  four  months  while  her  father  and  broth- 
ers supposed  her  at  school.  The  mother 
who  had  seen  too  late  the  fruit  of  the  "liberty" 
so  proudly  spoken  of  by  many  American 
parents,  sternly  refused  to  allow  the  girl  to 
see  her  child.  It  was  hurried  away  as  soon  as 
born,  and  the  little  sixteen-year-old  mother, 
whose  piteous  appeals  to  be  allowed  to  see 
her  baby  were  austerely  refused,  could  only 
lie  and  ponder  over  the  mystery  and  appar- 
ent injustice  of  things.  Indulgently  reared 
in  a  luxurious  home,  with  no  guide  for  her 
conduct  but  her  own  desires  and  the  false 
principles  of  a  society  whose  condemnation 
rests  only  upon  those  who  are  "found  out;" 
what  restraining  influence  had  she  had  in 
the  moment  of  temptation? 


26  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

"Her  own  proper  instincts  should  have 
taught  her  to  behave  rightly,"  some  one 
says.  The  argument  is  a  poor  one.  If  it  is 
solely  a  question  of  instinct,  the  sex-instinct 
implanted  by  nature  would  throw  the  bal- 
ance entirely  in  the  opposite  direction.  What 
chance  would  what  our  critic  designates  as 
"proper  instincts"  (and  which  are,  after  all 
but  the  inherited  and  imbibed  principles  of 
an  accepted  social  law  and  order)  stand 
against  the  mighty  impulse  of  sex  when 
affection  and  opportunity  called  it  forth? 

If  parents  refuse  requisite  instruction  to 
their  young  people,  they  owe  it  to  them  to 
take  away  the  opportunity  for  wrong  doing. 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  wish  to  suggest 
that  the  purity  of  our  young  people  is  de- 
pendent upon  parental  restraint.  I  simply 
wish  to  point  out  to  mothers  that  to  allow 
absolute  freedom  of  intercourse  between 
two  susceptible  young  people,  in  evening 
hours,  or  on  long  drives,  when  the  blood 
is  hot  and  the  senses  are  stimulated,  is  to 
expose  them  to  inevitable  sexual  temptation. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  re- 
peat a  remark  made  to  the  writer  by  one  of 
the  most  noted  and  respected  of  our  special- 
ists in  nervous  diseases.  "In  my  experience," 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCE          21] 

he  said,  "I  have  known  more  moral  slips 
resulting  from  young  people  going  to  even- 
ing church  together  than  from  going  to  a 
dance  together." 

This  will  sound  like  an  astounding  state- 
ment to  those  who  have  not  studied  the 
intimate  connection  of  the  sexual  and  the 
religious  natures.  It  is,  nevertheless,  true 
both  in  reason  and  in  fact. 

Many  of  our  girls'  boarding  schools  are 
hot-beds  of  sensuality.  In  one  of  these, 
known  to  the  writer,  an  expensive  and  fash- 
ionable seminary,  the  moral  conditions  were 
such  that  a  girl  who  had  no  tale  of  a  personal 
sexual  experience  to  relate  to  her  compan- 
ions was  considered  not  at  all  "up  to  date." 
These  experienced  young  ladies  were,  of 
course,  too  wise  to  risk  the  chance  of  ex- 
posure, were  a  good  deal  wiser,  in  fact,  than 
their  fond  and  indulgent  mammas,  whohad 
been  too  afraid  of  soiling  their  sweet  daugh- 
ters' minds  to  inculcate  in  them  habits  of 
virtuous  thought  and  living. 

In  one  of  our  educational  towns,  which 
shall,  of  necessity,  be  nameless,  immoral 
friendships,  though  concealed  from  outsiders, 
were  almost  universal;  there  was  scarcely 
a  lad  in  the  bovs'  school  who  had  not  had 


28  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

criminal  intercourse  with  some  girl  in  the 
female  seminary.  And  these  young  people 
represented  the  best,  socially  speaking,  of 
our  nation;  were  the  prospective  fathers 
and  mothers  of  the  cream  of  our  coming 
civilization,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world! 

These  facts  are  presented  not  through  a 
desire  to  shock,  nor  with  any  idea  of  whole- 
sale condemnation  of  our  young  people. 
There  are  too  many  pure  young  girls  and 
right-thinking  and  right-acting  young  men 
in  our  land  to  allow  of  a  sweeping  statement 
of  youthful  degeneracy.  Yet  it  is  necessary 
that  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  rising 
generation  should  realize  to  the  full  their 
responsibilities  in  this  regard;  should  know 
the  possibilities  of  educational  error,  the 
danger  of  unguarded  youth,  and  the  power 
they  wield  for  good  or  ill  over  the  young 
lives  entrusted  to  their  care. 

Espionage  and  restraint  are  contrary  to 
our  democratic  ideas;  it  is  offensive  to  the 
pride  of  the  American  mother  to  treat  her 
daughter  as  European  girls  are  treated. 

There  is  an  alternative,  as  I  have  very 
definitely  set  forth;  frank,  full,  wise  and 
satisfying  instruction  in  sex  matters. 

In  this  way  alone  can  we  expect  to  find 


INNOCENCE    VERSUS    IGNORANCE         29 

safety  for  our  children  in  the  days  of  storm 
and  stress;  and,  failing  in  our  duty  in  this 
regard,  we  have,  whether  we  realize  it  or 
not,  been  false  to  a  trust,  been  coward  senti- 
nels at  the  post,  unworthy  of  the  most  ob- 
vious of  obligations,  and  faithless  to  the 
cause  of  the  trusting  and  the  helpless. 


FLOWER  BABIES 


CHAPTER    II 


T  is  not  difficult  to  imagine 
a  parent  or  teacher  who  is 
willing  to  accept  as,essential 
and  reasonable  the  fact  that 
ignorance  is  danger;  to  con- 
cede that  the  only  real  inno- 
cence is  that  of  a  Christ  who  knew  all  of 
evil  yet  without  contamination;  yet  who, 
through  a  lack  of  the  requisite  knowledge, 
or  a  barrenness  of  ideas,  finds  it  difficult 
to  give  the  necessary  information  in  a  wise 
and  suitable  way.  And  yet  for  the  parent, 
surely  the  task  is  an  easy  one.  The  chief 
necessity  is  that  the  mother  (I  use  the  word 
mother  advisedly,  though  the  story  can  be 
quite  as  beautifully  and  wisely  told  by  the 
father)  should  herself  look  at  the  matter 
with  a  high  and  beautiful  reverence.  Any 
slurring  over  a  difficulty,  any  hesitation  or 
doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  narrator,  will  inevi- 
ably  affect  the  mind  of  the  child.  Simply, 
delicately,  tenderly,  the  tale  should  be  told, 
with  the  child's  hands  clasped  in  her  own, 


FLOWER   BABEIS  3! 

an  honest,  loving  purpose  reflected  in  the 
childish  soul  in  tender,  pure  responsive 
affection  and  trust. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  improve  upon 
Doctor  Mary  Wood- Allen's  sweet  story.  I 
have  yet  to  meet  the  person,  young  or  old, 
who  can  hear  its  conclusion  unmoved. 

"Would  you  like  to  hear  the  story  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Morning-Glory  and  their  children? 
This  flower  is  their  home,  and  here  we 
shall  find  them  all.  These  pink,  or  blue, 
or  purple  leaves,  form  their  house,  and  we 
call  it  the  corolla.  We  can  pull  the  corolla 
away  and  leave  a  little  cup  of  green  leaves, 
known  as  the  calyx.  We  now  hold  in  our 
hands  the  corolla,  like  a  bright-colored  vase. 
If  we  tear  it  apart  we  find  growing  fast  to 
it  at  the  bottom  five  slender  stems  which 
are  called  stamens  and  each  part  of  the 
stamen  has  a  different  name.  The  stalk  is 
the  filament,  or  thread;  the  enlarged  part  at 
the  top  is  the  anther,  and  this  is  hollow  and 
filled  with  a  fine  powder  called  pollen. 
When  you  have  smelled  a  lily  and  found 
your  nose  all  yellow,  you  have  only  carried 
away  on  your  nose  the  pollen  of  the  lily,  and 
this  pollen  is  very  important,  as  I  shall  show 
you.  Now  let  us  look  at  the  green  cup  or 


32  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

calyx.  We  find  rising  out  of  the  center  of 
it  a  slender  stem,  called  the  pistil,  composed 
of  three  parts.  The  stem  itself  is  called  the 
style,  the  upper  end  of  the  stem,  rough,  and 
not  covered  with  a  skin  like  the  rest,  is  called 
the  stigma,  and  the  enlarged  part  at  the 
bottom  of  the  pistil  is  known  as  the  ovary. 
Ovary  is  a  word  from  the  Latin  and  means 
"egg-bed." 

"Do  plants  have  eggs?" 

"Oh,  yes,  only  we  call  the  eggs  of  plants 
seeds.  In  this  ovary  are  the  seeds  of  new 
plants,  and  so  we  can  call  them  baby  Morning 
Glories.  When  everything  is  ready  for  the 
creation  of  the  new  plant,  the  anther  at  the 
top  of  the  stamen  opens,  the  pollen  dust  falls 
on  the  stigma,  passes  down  through  the  style 
into  the  ovary,  and,  as  we  say  fertilizes  the 
seeds  or  ovules  (little  eggs,)  and  they  begin 
to  grow,  but  they  would  never  grow  and 
become  new  plants  if  they  were  not  fertil- 
ized. If  we  soak  a  dry,  fertilized  seed  for  a 
few  hours,  and  then  cut  it  open  carefully, 
we  shall  find  in  it  the  little  baby  plant  tucked 
away  in  its  little  shell,  and  around  it  we  find 
the  jelly-like  matter  which  is  its  food  while 
it  remains  inside  the  shell.  When  the  dry 
seed  is  put  into  the  ground  it  finds  water 


FLOWER   BABEIS  33 

there,  drinks  it  up  and  then  swells,  and  the 
baby  plant,  waking  up,  stretches  itself  up 
towards  the  light  and  air.  This  is  how  baby 
plants  are  made  and  begin  to  grow.  We 
saw  that  it  was  needful,  in  order  to  produce 
the  new  plants,  that  the  pollen  from  the  an- 
ther should  unite  with  the  ovules  in  the  ovary. 
The  stamen,  with  its  various  parts,  we  may 
call  the  father  of  the  plant,  and  the  pistil 
the  mother,  and  the  ovary  is  the  little  bed 
or  cradle  in  which  the  babies  sleep.  Every- 
thing that  grows  must  have  a  father  and  a 
mother.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  Morning 
Glory,  the  father  and  the  mother  live  in  the 
same  plant  or  tree,  sometimes  the  mother- 
flowers  are  on  one  plant  and  the  father- 
flowers  on  another  plant.  But  as  the  baby 
plants  will  not  grow  unless  the  pollen  from 
the  male  plant  has  been  carried  to  the  stigma 
of  the  female  plant,  we  find  that  bees  and 
insects  and  winds  are  messengers  to  carry 
the  pollen  dust  to  the  female  flowers.  Is  it 
not  a  beautiful  thought  that  the  baby  plant 
has  a  father  and  a  mother,  a  home  and  a 
little  cradle?" 

The  child  listens  to  this  simple  story  as 
to  a  fairy  tale,  and  the  mother  who  has  the 
knowledge  of  botany  to  continue  this  in- 


34  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

struction  will  give  her  little  one  much  that 
is  beautiful  to  think  of,  and  prepare  him  for 
many  happy  hours  among  the  delights  of 
Nature's  wealth  of  beauty  in  the  flower- 
world. 

But  now  the  lesson  must  be  carried  from 
plants  into  the  world  of  animals.  I  will 
only  suggest  the  story  of  fishes,  frogs  and 
serpents  which  can  be  made  of  absorbing 
interest,  and  proceed  to  the  winged  crea- 
tures. We  find  that  baby  animals  have 
fathers  and  mothers.  The  father-bird  and 
the  mother-bird  work  together  to  build  the 
nest  home  for  their  baby-birds.  When  the 
nest  is  built  the  mother-bird  lays  the  eggs, 
which  in  fact  are  the  seeds  of  new  birds. 
The  mother-bird  has  in  her  body  an  ovary 
or  egg-bed  in  which  the  eggs  are  produced. 
But  no  birds  would  come  from  the  eggs  if 
they  were  not  first  fertilized  by  a  product 
from  the  father-bird.  This  is  not  a  dust  or 
powder,  as  in  plants,  but  a  fluid,  and  it  must 
enter  into  the  body  of  the  mother-bird  and 
fertilize  the  eggs  or  they  will  not  "hatch," 
as  we  say. 

The  seeds  of  plants  are  buried  in  the 
ground  to  be  kept  warm  and  moist  until  they 
grow.  The  eggs  of  the  bird  are  covered 


FLOWER    BABIES  35 

with  a  hard  shell,  and  the  mother-bird  sits 
upon  them  and  keeps  them  warm  until  they 
grow  strong  enough  to  break  the  shell  and 
come  into  the  world. 

"All  life  is  from  the  egg,"  says  the  Latin. 
Plants  have  eggs  in  ovaries,  and  birds  have 
eggs  in  ovaries,  and  we  begin  to  wonder  if 
human  babies  do  not  come  from  eggs.  Yes, 
they  do,  but  not  from  eggs  with  hard  shells 
as  the  seeds  of  plants  or  the  eggs  of  birds. 

The  egg  from  which  comes  the  human 
baby  is  so  small  that  it  cannot  be  seen  by 
the  naked  eye.  If  it  came  into  the  world 
it  would  be  lost.  It  is  too  precious  to  run 
any  such  chance,  and  so  the  Lord  has  made 
a  little  room  or  nest  in  the  mother's  body 
where  the  egg  is  kept  warm  and  fed  until 
it  grows  large  enough  to  live  its  own  inde- 
pendent life  in  the  world.  The  mother  knows 
that  her  little  baby  is  there.  She  knows  that 
she  breathes  for  it,  that  it  is  fed  by  her 
blood,  and  so  she  thinks  of  it  and  loves  it 
and  prays  for  it.  She  makes  its  beautiful 
little  garments,  and  dreams  of  how  happy 
she  will  be  when  she  can  see  its  baby  face, 
and  feel  the  touch  of  its  tiny  hands.  And 
so  it  is  her  baby  almost  a  year  before  it 
belongs  to  any  one  else,  and  she  waits  for 


36  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

its  coming  with  hope  and  fear.  And  when 
the  time  has  come  the  door  of  this  little 
room  opens,  sometimes  with  great  pain  and 
suffering  to  the  mother,  and  the  child  comes 
into  the  world  and  is  laid  in  her  arms.  And 
still  it  is  her  baby  more  than  any  one  else's, 
for  it  depends  on  her  for  food,  drawing  its 
milk  from  her  breast;  she  cares  for  it  by 
night  and  day,  in  health  and  sickness,  and 
forgets  all  that  she  has  suffered  because  of 
the  love  she  has  for  this  little  one  who  is 
really  a  part  of  herself. 

Do  you  think  a  child  will  hear  this  story 
from  the  lips  of  a  mother  and  not  be  touched? 
I  have  yet  to  hear  of  the  child  who  was  not 
deeply  impressed  by  it.  One  little  girl  who 
had  listened  with  exceeding  interest,  said 
when  her  mother  had  ended:  "Did  you  go 
through  this  for  me  Mamma?  I  thought  I 
loved  you  before,  but  now  I  know  I  never 
did,  but  I  do  love  you  now,  Mamma,  and 
I  can  never,  never  be  a  naughty  girl  again." 

"Mamma,  how  big  was  I  when  I  was 
made  ?"  asked  a  little  boy.  It  would  have 
been  easy  in  reply  to  have  indicated  the 
size  of  the  new-born  child,  but  this  mother 
was  too  wise  and  far-seeing;  she  saw  in  this 
question  her  opportunity.  Taking  the  child 
upon  her  knee,  she  said: 


FLOWER    BABIES  37 

"When  you  were  made,  my  dear,  you 
were  but  a  tiny  speck,  not  so  big  as  the 
point  of  a  needle.  You  could  not  have  been 
seen  except  with  a  microscope." 

"Why,  mamma,  if  I  was  as  small  as  that 
I  should  think  I  would  have  been  lost." 

"So  you  would,  dear  child,  if  the  kind 
Heavenly  Father  had  not  taken  especial 
care  of  you.  He  knew  how  precious  little 
babies  are,  and  so  he  has  made  a  little  room 
in  the  mother's  body,  where  they  can  be 
kept  from  all  harm  until  they  are  big  enough 
to  live  their  own  separate  lives." 

"And  did  I  live  in  such  a  little  room 
in  you?" 

"Yes,  dear.'' 

"But  how  did  I  eat  and  breathe?" 

"I  ate  and  breathed  for  you." 

"Did  you  know  I  was  there?" 

"Yes.  Sometimes  your  little  hand  or  foot 
would  knock  on  the  wall  of  the  room,  and 
I  would  feel  it  and  would  say:  My  darling 
speaks  to  me  and  says,  'Mother,  I  am  here ;' 
and  then  I  would  say:  Good  morning,  little 
one,  mother  loves  you;  and  then  I  would 
try  to  think  how  you  would  look  when  I 
should  see  you." 

"How  long  was  I  there,   mamma?" 


38  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

"Three-quarters  of  a  year,  and  you  grew 
every  day,  and,  because  I  wanted  you  to  be 
happy,  I  tried  to  be  happy  all  the  time,  and 
I  was  careful  to  eat  good  food  so  that  you 
might  be  strong,  and  I  tried  to  be  gentle, 
kind,  patient,  persevering;  in  fact,  everything 
that  I  wanted  you  to  be,  for  I  knew  that 
everything  I  did  would  help  to  make  you 
what  you  were  to  be." 

"But,  mamma,  how  did  what  you  ate  feed 
me?" 

"My  food  was  made  into  blood,  and  the 
blood  was  carried  to  you  and  nourished  you." 

"But  how?" 

"Did  you  ever  see  mamma  make  a  dump- 
ling?" 

"Yes.  You  took  the  dough  and  put  the 
apple  in  and  gathered  the  dough  all  up  in 
one  place  and  pinched  it  together." 

"Yes,  and  you  are  much  like  the  dump- 
ling. Your  skin  is  folded  around  you  like 
the  dough  around  the  apple  and  is  gathered 
together  in  one  place  on  the  front  of  the 
body.  We  call  it  the  navel,  or  umbilicus. 
Before  you  were  born  the  skin  at  this  point 
was  continued  in  a  long  cord  which  was 
connected  with  mamma,  and  through  it  the 
blood  was  carried  to  you.  When  the  time 


FLOWER   BABIES  39 

came  for  you  to  go  out  into  the  world,  to 
live  apart  from  me,  the  door  of  your  little 
room  opened  with  much  pain  and  suffering 
to  me,  and  then  you  came  into  the  world, 
or  were  born,  as  we  say.  Then  the  cord, 
or  tube,  that  connected  you  to  me  was  cut, 
and,  healing  up,  formed  the  navel,  or  the 
place  where  the  skin  of  the  whole  body  is 
gathered  together.  When  you  drew  your 
first  breath  into  your  lungs,  you  cried,  and 
then  I  knew  you  were  alive,  and  I  laughed, 
and  said:  "Is  it  a  boy  or  girl?"  After  you 
were  washed  and  dressed  they  brought  you 
to  me  and  laid  you  on  my  arm  and  for  the 
first  time  I  saw  the  face  of  the  little  baby 
I  had  loved  so  long.  And  now  you  can  un- 
derstand why  you  are  so  dear  to  me." 

"O,  mamma,  now  I  know  why  I  love 
you  the  best  of  all  the  world,"  exclaimed 
the  child,  with  warm  embraces  and  with 
loving  tears  in  his  eyes.  Was  that  not  better 
than  to  have  told  him  an  untruth  or  even 
a  half-truth,  or  to  have  left  him  to  learn 
concerning  himself  from  the  impure,thought- 
less,  or  lying  lips  of  some  chance  comrade 
or  acquaintance  ?" 

There  is  no  need  to  be  deterred  by  the 
fear  that  the  child  will  talk  to  others  of 


40  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

what  you  have  told  him.  We  realize  to 
our  cost  that  it  is  possible  for  a  child  to 
keep  a  secret  from  mother;  give  him  a 
chance  to  keep  a  secret  with  mother.  A 
child  will  understand  from  the  merest  sug- 
gestion that  the  same  unwritten  law  of 
delicacy  that  prevents  people  of  refinement 
from  speaking  of  the  operation  of  their  phy- 
sical organs  except  in  private  and  to  a  near 
relation  would  obtain  with  regard  to  these 
other  organs  whose  use  he  is  only  now  learn- 
ing. Frequent  reference  to  the  subject,  need- 
less to  say,  is  unnecessary.  The  average 
healthy,  out-of-door  child  will  learn  his  les- 
sons, and  play  heartily,  with  that  delight  in 
the  present  that  is  the  joy  and  beauty  of 
childhood,  without  troubling  thoughts  or  cu- 
rious wonderings.  Only  we  must  be  ready 
for  the  questions  when  they  come,  and  be 
very  careful  that  no  one  else  gets  before- 
hand with  us. 

As  far  as  bodily  temptations  are  concerned, 
there  is  little  fear  for  the  frank,  healthy,  play- 
loving  youngster,  or  the  daring,  romping, 
impetuous  hoyden; — unless  ideas  of  evil  are 
communicated  by  unwholesome  companions 
they  are  very  unlikely  to  suggest  themselves; 
and,  in  many  cases,  if  suggested  by  others. 


FLOWER   BABIES  4! 

will  be  repelled  in  a  vigorous  spirit  of  dis- 
gust. But  with  the  reserved,  self-contained 
child,  with  the  child  who  dreams  instead  of 
playing,  who  prefers  to  be  alone  rather  than 
seek  the  society  of  his  or  her  fellows,  who 
is  morbid  and  sensitive;  such  a  child  needs 
most  careful  supervision,  most  wise  and 
tender  teaching. 

Novels  and  light  literature  are  to  the  men- 
tal and  moral  nature  as  pound-cake  and 
pickles  to  the  digestive  apparatus;  a  robust, 
vigorous,  staunch  constitution  may  swallow 
the  useless  and  harmful  preparations  with- 
out apparent  ill  effects;  but  to  a  delicate  and 
sensitive  organism  such  things  are  poison. 
Experimenting  in  these  matters  is  perilous; 
there  is  too  much  at  stake.  Few  persons  un- 
der eighteen  years  of  age  can  with  safety  be 
given  the  unhealthy  and  unreal' romance  that 
constitutes  much  of  the  light  literature  of  to- 
day; it  engenders  false  notions  of  life  and 
loose  ideas  of  morality  and  causes  a  prema- 
ture and  unhealthy  perception  of  sex-relations 
and  sex-emotions.  Even  if  this  were  not  so 
there  still  remains  the  undoubted  fact  that 
the  reading  of  novels  destroys  a  child's  taste 
for  what  is  better;  that,  at  a  time  when  he 
might  be  storing  and  enriching  his  mind 


42  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

with  history,  travel  and  biography,  imbibing 
the  world's  best  thought  and  enjoying  it,  he 
is  losing  his  intellectual  grip  and  vitiating 
his  mental  powers  in  the  consumption  of  the 
colored  candy  and  lard-compounded  pastry 
of  literature.  Let  the  young  people  have 
the  open  air,  the  boyish  and  girlish  fun  and 
frolic,  and  when  they  want  a  book  let  them 
read  something  that  is  worth  while.  At  any 
time,  but  especially  during  the  adolescent 
period,  they  should  be  encouraged  in  any 
pastime  that  keeps  them  out  of  doors;  col- 
lections of  shells  and  minerals,  the  accumu- 
lation of  botanical  specimens,  collections  of 
butterflies,  and  bees,  made  in  a  humane  man- 
ner. Never  mind  if  the  house  is  littered 
with  things  intrinsically  valueless;  a  little 
dust  and  disorder  is  well  paid  for  in  the 
moral  health  of  the  children. 

The  writer  was  visited  once  by  a  mother 
who  was  in  great  distress  and  desired  help. 
She  had  discovered  that  her  boy  of  sixteen, 
the  eldest  of  four  children,  had  become  ad- 
dicted to  solitary  vice;  inexpressibly  shocked 
and  utterly  helpless,  as  she  felt  herself,  she 
craved  knowledge  in  dealing  with  this  the 
most  serious  problem  of  her  life. 

The  poor  little  woman  said  with  tears  in 
her  eves: 


FLOWER    BABIES 


"If  he  hadn't  been  such  a  good  boy  it 
would  be  different.  But  he  has  always  been 
so  quiet  and  so  gentle,  not  rough  and  boist- 
erous like  some  boys;  would  just  sit  down 
quietly  at  home  with  a  book;  such  a  dear, 
stay-at-home  fellow." 

I  told  her  that  a  temperment  such  as  this 
is  the  more  liable  to  this  form  of  temptation, 
and  proceeded  to  question  her  carefully  as 
to  his  method  of  life. 

T  found  that  she  had  fed  him  from  baby- 
hood on  a  large  quantity  of  meat  and  eggs, 
and  that  he  craved  and  was  given  condi- 
ments of  all  sorts. 

Questioned  as  to  the  boy's  exercise  she 
admitted  that  he  seldom  played  out-door 
games,  or  went  to  the  school  gymnasium. 

When  the  recital  of  conditions  was  ended 
and  I  was  in  full  possession  of  the  facts, 
I  said  to  her: 

"The  boy  is  not  to  blame;  you  and  you 
alone  must  bear  the  reproach;  if  you  had 
desired  to  foster  in  your  boy  the  very  sin 
over  which  you  are  now  breaking  your  heart 
you  could  not  possibly  have  done  so  more 
effectively  than  by  the  training  that  you  have 
given  him.  To  feed  your  boy  with  meats, 
sauces  and  pickles,  to  encourage  a  sedentary 


44  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACK 

life  instead  of  sending  him  to  knock  about 
in  the  open  air;  to  allow  him  the  light  read- 
ing of  which  you  tell  me;  and  at  the  same 
time  to  give  him  no  word  of  instruction  or 
warning  as  to  the  uses  of  his  body,  these 
combined  have  created  the  condition  that  you 
deplore,  and  diligently  fostered  its  growth." 
The  poor  mother  reproached  herself  bitterly, 
and  yet,  how  many  mothers  are  wiser  to- 
day? How  long  shall  the  farcical  situation 
last,  that  of  mothers  whose  minds  are  too 
over-nice  to  inform  themselves  upon  matters 
that  mean  life  and  death  to  their  children? 
How  long  shall  we  watch  our  insane  asy- 
lums rill  with  victims  of  a  disease  that  is 
abhorrent  and  unnecessary,  because  parents 
shrink  from  or  ignore  their  obvious  duty? 
For  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  read 
these  pages  with  all  a  true  mother's  anxiety 
to  know  and  do  the  best,  I  give  in  the  matter 
of  diet  the  unqualified  opinion  of  a  physical 
educator  who  has  made  this  condition  a  study 
for  sixteen  years.  She  says:  "Beef-eating 
in  children  undeniably  fosters  this  evil. 
Meat  is  not  necessary  to  children's  health 
and  in  any  but  very  small  quantities  is  pos- 
itively injurious;  but  beef  is  especially 
harmful ;  no  mother  who  cares  for  the  purity 


FLOWER    BABIES  45 

of  her  child  will  feed  it  upon  beef  if  she 
knows  and  understands  the  possible  results. 
That  the  eating  of  flesh  is  essential  to  a 
child's  health  is  a  popular  superstition  and 
has  no  foundation  in  fact;  but  if  you  must 
give  him  meat,  let  it  be  in  the  smallest  quan- 
tities; chicken  preferably,  'and  no  beef." 
This  writer  has  facts  of  a  large  experience 
and  authority  from  able  sources  upon  which 
to  base  her  assumption;  there  is  no  place 
for  such  within  the  limits  of  this  volume; 
I  give  her  earnest  statement  for  what  it 
may  be  worth  to  my  readers. 

It  will,  perhaps,  be  interesting  to  learn  the 
result  of  earnest  effort  in  this  particular  case. 
Although  a  habit  of  perhaps  two  years' stand- 
ing it  had  not  been  so  frequently  indulged 
in  as  to  constitute  disease..  By  altering  en- 
tirely the  boy's  mode  of  life,  by  giving  him 
healthy  out-door  interests,  by  a  radical  change 
in  his  diet,  and  by  earnest  and  tender  teach- 
ing the  boy  was  able  to  conquer  the  degrad- 
ing habit.  When  the  grand  use  of  the  sexual 
function  was  rightly  explained  to  the  boy, 
when  his  manliness  and  strength  of  will 
were  appealed  to,  when  he  understood  that 
physical  disaster  and  mental  derangement 
were  the  inevitable  outcome  of  the  indul- 


46  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

gence  of  this  fatal  habit,  he  shrank  from  it 
with  horror. 

Not  that  the  victory  was  an  easy  matter; 
for  many  weeks  it  was  his  mother's  custom 
to  read  him  to  sleep  with  a  tale  interesting 
enough  to  keep  his  mind  from  wandering 
and  yet  not  exciting  enough  to  keep  him  from 
sleep;  and  he  found  her  ever  ready  to  help 
him  when  he  most  needed  assistance.  Be- 
tween them  was  established  a  beautiful  and 
understanding  sympathy,  a  friendship  that 
nothing  could  destroy.  The  boy's  health  im- 
proved, his  school  reports  showed  a  marked 
advancement  consequent  upon  his  cleared 
intelligence;  his  eye  met  that  of  his  parents 
and  friends  frankly  and  directly;  the  lad  was 
saved. 

The  temptation  of  the  shocked  parent,  in 
a  case  of  this  kind,  is  to  be  harsh  and  con- 
temptuous; such  an  attitude  is  both  foolish 
and  wrong;  if  causes  are  studied,  the  fault 
will  usually,  as  in  this  case,  prove  to  be  the 
fault  of  environment  and  of  the  ignorance 
of  his  natural  protectors.  It  is  thought  by 
many  that  a  tendency  to  this  evil  is  sown  in 
the  unborn  child  by  the  sexual  indulgence 
of  his  parents  during  his  intra-uterine  life. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  parent  will  need  to 


FLOWER    BABIES  47 

be  very  confident  of  his  or  her  own  sexual 
temperance  before  he  fixes  the  blame  for 
his  son's  abnormalty. 

We  take  it  for  granted  that  savage  play  and 
rude  expressions  are  not  suitable  for  girls; 
I  cannot  see  that  they  are  either  right  or 
profitable  for  boys.  The  elimination  of  the 
whip  as  a  toy,  the  replacing  of  the  gun  or 
bow  and  arrow  by  the  carpenter's  box  or 
garden  tools  would  be  a  prudent  revolution; 
to  make  not  to  destroy ',  beneficence  and  hu- 
manity instead  of  selfish  pleasure  in  the 
taking  of  life;  this  is  surely  the  principle 
to  work  upon.  In  the  matter  of  sex  these 
questions  play  an  important  part;  tenderness 
toward  all  living  things,  gentleness  in  deal- 
ing with  the  weaker,  courtesy  in  speech, 
these  precepts  inculcated  in  the  young  lay 
the  foundation  for  considerateness  and  unsel- 
fishness in  the  marriage  relation,  and  for  a 
chivalrous  feeling  of  protective  care  for  all 
members  of  the  opposite  sex. 

Our  present  chief  Executive,  while  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York  State,  in  speaking  to 
the  N.  Y.  State  Assembly  of  Mothers  in 
Session  in  the  Assembly  Chamber  of  the 
Capitol  at  Albany  said  that  he  would  not 
give  a  fig  for  a  boy  who  would  not  fight. 


48  WOMAN    AND     THB    RACE 

This  seemed  a  somewhat  startling  statement 
to  many  of  his  hearers,  women  who  had, 
perhaps,  found  some  difficulty  in  restraining 
the  too  belligerent  tendencies  of  their  off- 
spring. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Governor's  ad- 
dress I  asked  him  for  a  more  definite  ex- 
planation of  his  remark  than  he  had  given. 
He  said:  "If  I  saw  one  of  my  boys  ill-treat- 
ing an  animal,  or  hurting  or  allowing  to  be 
hurt  a  child  smaller  than  himself  I  would 
thrash  him  within  an  inch  of  his  life!" 

The  principle  underlying  the  utterance 
of  this  man  for  whom  friends  and  enemies 
alike  have  respect,  and  of  whose  manliness 
and  integrity  there  has  never  been  any  ques- 
tion, is  easily  seen;  fighting  for  fighting's 
sake,  or  for  the  despoiling  of  the  enemy,  is 
not  Mr.  Roosevelt's  idea  of  courage;  the 
protection  of  the  weaker,  the  defence  of 
honor,  the  fighting  to  the  death  for  a  prin- 
ciple; these  would  seem  to  be  the  motive 
and  mainspring  of  that  "strenuous"  life  and 
mode  of  thinking  that  has  become  a  house- 
hold word  since  Theodore  Roosevelt  un- 
dertook the  grave  responsibility  of  a  share 
in  the  government  of  his  country. 

The  question  as  to  the  moral  and  religious 


FLOWER    BABIES  49 

aspect  of  war  is  not  within  our  present  scope 
or  idea;  on  general  principles,  however,  we 
may  take  it  for  granted  that  the  school  will 
supply  enough  national  feeling;  in  the  home 
we  may  with  advantage  cultivate  interna- 
tional sympathies.  The  brotherhood,  not 
only  of  the  race  but  of  the  world,  the  in- 
terdependence of  nations,  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  a  wide  humanitarianism,  these  will 
be  of  great  and  wide  importance  in  the  bal- 
ancing of  the  emotions  and  the  broadening 
of  the  character. 

In  past  days  anything  was  considered  good 
enough  for  children;  any  one,  however  ig- 
norant, was  deemed  fit  to  start  the  young 
idea  on  the  path  which  it  should  travel.  We 
are  wiser  today;  we  realize  that  if  the  world 
is  to  be  improved  the  reformation  can  only 
come  through  the  babies  in  our  arms :  that 
the  early  years  of  a  child's  life  are  the  most 
important,  and  need  for  a  gracious  harvest 
of  goodness  the  wisest  of  sowing  and  the 
tenderest  of  cultivating;  that  the  health  and 
wealth  of  our  nation  and  our  world  lies 
with  the  pliable,  teachable  natures  of  the 
children  of  today. 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE 
SOCIAL  SCHEME 


CHAPTER    III 


I  am  no  saint  niched  in  a  hallowed  wall 
For  men  to  worship ;  but  I  would  compel 
A  level  gaze ;  you  teachers  who  would  tell 

A  woman's  place,  I  do  defy  you  all ! 

While  justice  lives  and  love  with  joy  is  crowned 
Woman  and  man  must  meet  on  equal  ground. 


FALSE  idea,  held  for  ages, 
tenaciously  gripped  by  the 
stronger  portion  of  humanity, 
tacitly  allowed  by  the  weaker, 
is  a  thing  of  might ;  let  an 
attempt  be  made  to  do  away 
with  it  and  it  will  seem  to  bear  a  strong 
resemblance  to  an  effort  to  uproot  by  main 
force  a  hundred-year-old  oak  or  yew.  Some- 
times it  seems  to  yield;  surely  the  powerful 
pressure  must  tell;  but  the  roots  are  firm  in 
the  ground,  and  the  fibrils  are  tenacious. 
Long,  strong,  and  untiring  must  be  the  en- 
ergy that  forces  it  from  its  resting-place. 
In  times  of  old,  woman  was  a  valuable 
piece  of  property,  a  necessary  adjunct  to  a 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  5 1 

home,  a  creature  who  was  not  supposed  to 
have  either  mind  or  will.  She  was  bargained 
for  by  the  man  who  desired  her,  and  he  made 
as  good  a  negotiation  with  the  father  or  near- 
est relative  as  his  wits  allowed.  To  have 
educated  a  woman  would  have  been  the 
height  of  folly.  To  what  end?  Even  sup- 
posing that  the  brain  were  capable  of  being 
trained,  which  was  a  matter  for  serious  doubt, 
what  would  be  the  advantage  of  book-knowl- 
edge to  the  household  drudge?  Her  task 
was  to  bear  children  to  her  lord  and  master, 
to  see  to  their  bodily  wants  while  they  were 
young,  to  prepare  food  for  the  family,  to 
see  that  the  home  was  kept  in  order.  And, 
born  to  this  position  in  society,  and  knowing 
no  alternative,  a  submissive  spirit  was  logi- 
cal and  appropriate. 

As  years  passed,  and  civilization  and  com- 
mon sense  aided  by  a  few  women  who  had 
the  hardihood  to  assert  themselves,  proved 
the  fallacy  of  the  old-time  tenets,  man  began 
to  look  for  the  helpmeet  for  him  that  nature 
had  designed.  As  prisoners,  newly  liberated, 
look  about  helplessly  ere  the  strangeness  of 
release  has  worn  off,  so  woman,  long  accus- 
tomed to  tutelage  and  coercion,  wakened  into 
a  dawn  of  possibilities  with  dulled  senses. 


52  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

Not  that  the  daylight  had  burst  unher- 
alded; the  dawn  had  long  been  imminent 
to  the  seeing  eye,  the  night  shadows  had 
rolled  lingeringly  away,  and  the  first  prom- 
ise of  morning  clearly  anticipated  the  future 
shining. 

But  the  sense  of  feudalism  is  hard  to  kill, 
and  the  earthbound  spirit  is  not  quick  to 
perceive. 

Even  now,  when  woman,  being  given  the 
opportunity  and  the  advantages,  has  proved 
herself  on  a  level  with  her  brother  in  mental 
power  and  endowments,  she  is  still  the  ex- 
ceptional woman.  The  great  majority  of 
womankind  still,  like  Lot's  wife,  turns  its 
back  upon  the  waiting  Zoar. 

The  spirit  of  bygone  ages  is  strong  with- 
in the  average  woman,  at  the  dawn  of  this 
new  century;  and  the  shackles  of  old  igno- 
rance still  furnish  excuse  for  the  refusal  of 
the  burden  of  a  personal,  mental  aristocracy. 

A  situation  cannot  successfully  be  forced; 
a  position  is  not  a  thing  to  be  made;  it  is 
something  to  which  we  shape  ourselves,  or 
for  which  we  are  intended. 

We  fit  ourselves  for  a  certain  post,  and 
lo!  we  are  in  possession.  We  are  great 
enough  to  speak  to  the  world  and  the  world 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  53 

stops  to  listen;  if  we  are  not  satisfied  with 
our  condition  or  our  possessions  we  have 
no  one  to  blame  but  ourselves.  The  bold 
man  catches  the  good  that  offers,  the  tim- 
orous man  lets  it  slip  by.  The  ruler  steps 
upon  his  throne  with  authority,  the  servile 
soul  knows  but  to  beg.  Each  is  in  his  own 
place,  and  the  future  will  be  of  his  own 
making. 

When  woman  is  able  and  ready  to  govern 
the  country,  the  privilege  of  the  ballot  will 
not  be  generously  and  condescendingly  ac- 
corded her,  it  will  be  hers  by  inherent  neces- 
sity, inevitably,  by  the  working  of  a  natural 
law.  If  woman  is  dependent,  it  is  because 
she  has  thought  dependency,  because  she 
has  not  cared  to  reason,  because  she  has  not 
fully  appreciated  her  intuitive  powers.  Could 
the  women  of  America  but  rise  up  in  their 
strength  they  might  do  as  they  listed, — but 
the  strength  is  as  yet  undeveloped.  It  is  like 
a  battle  in  which  all  but  the  front  ranks  of 
the  advancing  army  are  recruited  from  ithe 
alms-house  and  the  asylum;  the  leaders  are 
doing  nobly,  but  the  body  of  the  force  is  a 
drag  and  an  impediment,  and  under  existing 
circumstances  success  is  impossible.  Let  a 
woman  educate  herself,  develop  herself, 


54  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

rise  in  daily  thought  from  the  pettiness  and 
frivolity  with  which  she  has  been  contented, 
into  the  largeness  of  national  and  interna- 
tional interests;  let  her  train  herself  to  be 
guided  by  the  mind,  not  by  emotional  im- 
pulse, and  she  will  have  but  to  ask;  nay,  the 
things  that  she  now  craves  will  be  thrust 
upon  her, 

The  illiterate  foreigner  who  after  a  brief 
sojourn  in  the  country  has  suffrage  rights, 
a  veritable  thorn-in-the-flesh  to  women  of 
mind  and  sense,  has  in  reality  no  voice  in 
national  or  civic  affairs;  in  casting  his  vote 
he  has  no  more  idea  of  duty  or  of  the  coun- 
try's needs  than  a  child;  he  sells  his  vote 
as  a  matter  of  course;  and,  without  regard 
to  the  moral  aspect  of  the  question,  it  is 
about  the  wisest  thing  he  could  do. 

When  woman  sets  herself  earnestly  and 
whole-heartedly  to  care  for  the  good  of  her 
country,  for  its  moral  status  and  its  legisla- 
tive purity,  then  and  not  until  then  shall  we 
have  her  vote  to  aid  the  cause  of  justice, 
her  voice  to  champion  the  right. 

It  may  be  claimed  that  such  conscien- 
cious  knowledge  and  such  noble  intention 
as  this  is  not  universal  today  in  our  men 
voters.  This  is  undoubtedly  true,  and  is  to 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  55 

be  deplored.  The  fact,  however,  in  itself, 
would  hardly  justify  the  extension  of  the 
franchise. 

To  be  great  for  the  sake  of  womanhood 
and  through  womanhood,  to  be  great  be- 
cause only  a  great  woman  can  give  to  the 
world  great  sons,  to  be  great  because  of  the 
recognition  of  the  inherent  godliness  of  the 
individual — this  is  the  true  ambition  of  wom- 
an. Not,  necessarily,  to  rule;  the  responsi- 
bility of  sovereignty  is  a  rare  obligation, 
and  the  few  on  whom  it  rightly  rests  should 
be  the  wise  of  the  earth. 

To  make  of  herself  the  fullest  expression 
of  an  inherent  potentiality,  to  reach  in  phys- 
ical, mental,  moral  and  spiritual  life  the 
highest  possible  point  of  development,  is 
but  to  fulfil  the  most  obvious  and  peremp- 
tory of  natural  obligations.  The  average 
woman  does  not  see  this,  however;  she  either 
conceives  her  duty  to  be  epitomized  from 
all  the  regulations  of  the  decalogue  into  the 
one  word  "self-sacrifice,"  or,  feeling  no  ac- 
countability to  either  herself  or  God,  she 
regards  life  simply  as  an  opportunity  for 
self-pleasing,  and  lets  the  years  roll  care- 
lessly by,  flinging  a  prayer  now  and  then  at 
the  feet  of  a  presumably  appeasable  Deity; 


56  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

but  otherwise  living  the  life  of  the  pur- 
ring, well-fed  cat  by  the  fireside. 

Life,  from  whatever  source,  means  surely 
something  more  than  this;  something  more, 
too,  than  the  reckless,  unnecessary  and  un- 
availing gift  of  oneself,  one's  thoughts,  aims, 
emotions  to  every  comer.  To  be  unselfish 
is  one  thing;  futile  self-sacrifice  is  another. 

In  almost  every  family  there  is  one  per- 
sonality that  preys  upon  the  rest,  or  one  that 
is  sacrificed  to  the  others ;  in  the  latter  case 
it  may  be  a  gentle,  loving  sister  whose  time, 
sympathies  and  prospects  are  sacrificed  to 
one  who  is  deemed  richer  in  intellectual 
gifts,  or  who  makes  larger  demands.  There 
is  no  one  individuality  that  has  more  claim 
to  assertion,  to  opportunity  for  development 
than  another,  and  each  is  responsible  solely 
for  his  or  her  own  life.  To  make  of  the  five 
talents  ten  is  the  cardinal  need. 

A  reasonable  self-sacrifice,  a  true  unself- 
ishness should  accompany  the  highest  am- 
bition as  a  natural  and  necessary  feature  in 
soul-development;  and  not  alone  from  per- 
sonal motives.  In  the  progress  of  evolution 
of  the  higher  self,  a  growing  nearness  to  the 
Source  of  Good  would  transmute  the  person- 
al element  into  a  wide,  all-embracing  sympa- 
thy that  would  preclude  the  worship  of  self. 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  57 

There  is  great  opportunity  for  selfishness 
in  the  marriage  relation;  an  opportunity  but 
too  often  taken  advantage  of  under  cover 
of  a  presumably  holy  institution.  At  the 
bottom  of  the  egotistical  disregard  of  a 
wife's  wishes  in  intimate  sexual  matters  lies 
the  old,  uncivilized  idea  of  the  serfdom  of 
women.  As  has  been  wisely  said :  "To  man 
the  freedom  of  sex  is  granted;  on  woman 
the  burden  of  sex  is  laid."  The  attitude  is 
unfair  and  illogical;  unfair  because  she  is 
the  chief  sufferer,  especially  if,  instead  of 
the  eager  response  that  should  meet  the 
mate's  advances,  there  is  but  a  passive  toler- 
ance or  a  coerced  compliance;  illogical  be- 
cause if  the  chief  end  and  aim  of  the  woman 
be  the  bearing  of  healthy  children,  that  end 
is  jeopardized  and  rendered  problematical 
by  the  desecration  of  her  desires  and  the 
perversion  of  her  emotions. 

A  man  who  under  the  protection  of  the 
marriage  relation  leads  a  life  of  incontinence 
and  debauchery,  with  a  wife  for  the  victim, 
has  only  himself  to  blame  if  she  turn  from 
his  caresses  with  loathing  and  fails  in  de- 
votion to  the  children  who  are  the  acciden- 
tal outcome  of  an  undesired  and  distaste- 
ful intercourse. 


58  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

The  ordinary  male  human  being  is  apt 
to  be  unimaginative  and  short-sighted,  a 
creature  who  eats  too  much  and  so  offends 
and  degrades  his  appetite,  drinks  too  much 
and  damages  and  renders  insensible  the  nerve 
centres  of  appreciation,  smokes  to  excess 
and  can  no  longer  enjoy  the  delicate  scents 
that  once  pleased  him;  prostitutes  the  joys 
of  love  so  that  they  are  no  longer  joys  but 
an  unreasoning  and  unreasonable  hunger. 

The  only  man  who  truly  knows  the  bliss 
of  passion  is  the  temperate  man;  the  only 
husband  who  knows  the  true  joy  that  pos- 
session gives,  is  he  who  makes  his  requests 
exquisitely  rare.  Compare  the  pleasure  of 
the  brutal  sensualist  who  uses  a  wife  as  a 
means  for  his  personal  gratification  without 
regard  or  care,  and  gains  for  himself  the 
dullness  of  an  unsatisfied  satiety,  with  the 
joy  of  the  lover  who  reads  an  unspoken  in- 
vitation and  responds  to  it,  who  knows  the 
glow  of  a  great,  reciprocal,  passionate  gift, 
a^mutual  outpouring  of  love  that  leaves  the 
quiet  of  an  utter  peace  and  the  gladness  of 
a  memory  of  delight.  To  the  average  man, 
whether  he  admits  it  or  not,  a  woman  is  in 
either  one  of  two  positions,  either  upon  a 
pedestal  where  he  worships  her  from  afar, 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  59 

or  beneath  his  feet;  no  sane  woman  covets 
either  posture. 

Is  there  really  any  essential  difference  in 
the  intellectual,  physical  or  moral  make-up 
of  a  man  and  a  woman? 

Differences  of  training  have  of  necessity 
produced  different  results,  and  the  differing 
ideals  held  up  before  the  mind's  eye  of  the 
boy  and  the  girl  could  not  but  operate  as 
they  have  done.  A  flawless  purity  perpet- 
ually before  the  girl  as  an  ideal,  necessa- 
rily becomes  a  part  of  her  life;  so  that  a 
glad  pride  in  maidenly  or  matronly  virtue, 
and  a  grand  defense  of  her  honor  are  what 
we  might  expect  from  her.  The  converse  is, 
of  course,  no  less  true.  A  type  of  hero  of 
the  Don  Juan  style  who  carries  all  before 
him  in  matters  of  the  heart;  a  lying  proverb 
become  a  household  phrase,  and  "wild  oats" 
a  necessary  part  of  a  young  man's  education ; 
lewd  stories  and  suggestive  jeers  a  perpetual 
and  taken-for-granted  item  in  his  intercourse 
with  his  fellows;  the  example  of  men 
of  recognized  immorality  who  find  favor 
where  a  diffident  and  right-living  youth  is 
unregarded;  these  things  produce  exactly 
what  we  might  expect;  the  fruit  is  accord- 
ing to  the  sowing. 


60  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

But,  allowing  for  these  radical  differences 
of  environment  and  teaching,  have  not  nor- 
mal, healthy  men  and  women  practically  the 
same  temptations,  the  same  desires,  the  same 
capabilities?  The  differences  are  in  degree, 
not  in  essence.  The  less  we  accentuate  the 
educated  differences,  the  more  we  encourage 
the  similarity  in  quality,  the  nearer  we  get 
to  perfection. 

For  example,  we  say  that  a  man  is  strong, 
a  woman  is  gentle;  yet  it  is  not  the  animal, 
brutal  strength  in  a  man  that  we  admire; 
an  ox  or  an  elephant  could  give  us  that;  it 
is  his  power  to  protect,  his  strength  to  gov- 
ern, his  restrained  force.  And  when  to  these 
are  added  something  of  the  tenderness  and 
softness  of  touch  and  manner  that  we  asso- 
ciate with  the  gentleness  of  a  woman,  then 
is  the  masculine  strength  a  perfect  thing. 

In  the  same  way,  it  is  not  the  gentleness 
of  weakness  that  we  admire  in  a  woman, 
the  insipidity  of  powerlessness,  the  liability 
to  faint  away  at  a  threat  of  danger,  the  tim- 
idity that  screams  at  a  mouse.  It  is  the 
gentleness  that  shudders  at  sin,  yet  takes 
the  sinner  by  the  hand;  the  gentleness  that 
soothes  little  children,  and  touches  the  suf- 
fering like  the  breath  of  a  mountain  breeze; 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  61 

the  gentleness  that  carries  a  divine  sweet- 
ness and  perfume  with  it;  if  to  these  be 
added  a  virile  courage  and  a  manly  vigor  and 
endurance,  is  not  the  gentleness  tenfold  more 
beautiful,  a  thousand  times  more  admirable, 
a  perfect  thing? 

So  through  the  range  of  the  other  so- 
called  masculine  and  feminine  characteris- 
tics :  a  man's  honesty,  a  woman's  tact,  a  man's 
masterfulness,  a  woman's  submission,  a  man's 
disposition  to  rove,  a  woman's  homekeeping. 
All  the  qualities  that  have,  with  an  absurd 
precision  and  definiteness,  been  apportioned 
severally  to  the  sexes,  can  only  attain  their 
highest  point  of  beauty  and  excellence  when 
modified,  aided,  and  illumined  by  the  op- 
posite characteristic. 

We  are  essentially  peers;  and  the  world 
will  never  know  the  possibilities  of  humanity 
until  that  eternal  balance  is  recognized,  and 
man  and  woman  stand  face  to  face,  unequal 
in  stature  and  physical  strength,  but  on  the 
level  ground  of  a  moral  and  spiritual  equality, 
with  the  same  social  laws  to  govern  their  ac- 
tions,thesame  sincerity  and  candor  of  dealing, 
the  same  ingenuous  and  guileless  knowledge, 
the  same  fearless  outlook  on  life.  Woman 
the  helpmate,  not  the  slave;  man  the  pro- 


62  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

tector  not  the  master.  Only  thus  shall  we 
have  a  perfect  union. 

In  battling  for  franchise  rights,  in  claim- 
ing her  place  among  the  thinkers  and  the 
workers  of  the  day,  irrespective  of  the  fact 
of  sex-difference,  in  proclaiming  her  free- 
dom from  a  past  servitude,  our  latter-day 
woman  has  forgotten  to  demand  a  right  that 
should  be  hers  of  inherent  justice;  the  right 
to  choose,  unbiassed  and  fearlessly,  the 
fatherhood  of  her  child. 

As  it  is  to-day,  economic  conditions  and  a 
weak  ignorance  control  the  most  important 
of  all  our  social  actions.  In  the  majority 
of  cases  a  woman  does  not  choose,  in  any 
real  sense  of  the  word,  the  man  who  is  to 
share  her  responsibility  in  the  bringing  of 
children  into  the  world.  She  has  very  prob- 
ably been  brought  up  to  be  economically 
dependent,  and  so  accepts  an  inferior  man 
who  will  take  upon  himself  the  burden  of 
her  livelihood.  She  does  not,  it  may  be  sur- 
mised, look  very  closely  into  his  record,  her- 
editary or  personal;  her  concern,  so  she 
would  argue,  is  not  for  future  generations 
but  for  personal,  present  freedom  from  care. 

The  question  of  woman's  financial  inde- 
pendence is  a  grave  one;  we  cannot  attempt 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  63 

fully  to  argue  it  here;  an  obvious  step  in  the 
right  direction  and  one  which  we  are  surely 
taking  is  to  educate  our  daughters  to  such 
magnificent  physical  health  and  such  mental 
proficiency  that  they  may  not  be  driven  to 
marriage  as  the  only  refuge  from  poverty. 

The  second  cause  of  the  non-ability  of 
women  to  choose  a  life  partner  with  wisdom, 
is  the  utter  ignorance  of  such  in  all  that  per- 
tains to  the  realm  of  sex.  Absolutely  un- 
acquainted with  the  laws  of  heredity,  with 
but  the  dimmest  idea  of  the  results  of  con- 
sanguinous  unions,  with  no  instruction  to 
influence  them  to  distinguish  the  true  from 
the  false,  the  healthy  from  the  diseased,  a 
large  number  of  our  women  deem  the  first 
stirrings  of  sex-impulse  an  indication  and 
justification  of  a  marriage  that  is  subsequent- 
ly proved  undesirable,  of  procreation  that  is 
unwise  and  unjustifiable. 

I  wish  to  lay  special  emphasis  on  the  stu- 
pidity of  our  present  system  of  education 
for  girls;  stupid  not  because  of  what  is  now 
taught  but  because  of  what  is  left  untaught. 
I  believe  in  girls  learning  all  the  ologies 
and  sciences  and  accomplishments  that  they 
can  stand  without  strain.  Given  the  same 
freedom  of  outdoor  life  and  exercise  they 


64  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

are  as  capable  of  mental  effort  as  are  their 
brothers.  The  race  will  never  make  the  pro- 
gress it  should  until  our  women  are  fully 
and  amply  educated,  until  their  minds  are 
as  logical  and  acute  as  are  their  brothers'. 
Our  colleges  are  doing  fine  work,  not  only 
in  the  direction  of  mental  development,  but 
of  physical  prowess. 

But  that  there  is  a  lack  in  an  educational 
system  that  takes  no  account  of  a  responsi- 
bility that  is,  generally  speaking,  inevitable, 
it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  demonstrate.  As 
Mrs.  Oilman  very  forcefully  puts  it:  "We 
find  our  young  women  reared  in  an  attitude 
which  is  absolutely  unconscious  of  and  often 
injurious  to  their  coming  motherhood.  An 
irresponsible,  indifferent,  ignorant  class  of 
beings  so  far  as  motherhood  is  concerned. 
They  are  fitted  to  attract  the  other  sex  for 
economic  uses,  or  at  most,  for  mutual  grati- 
fication, but  not  for  motherhood.  They  are 
reared  in  unbroken  ignorance  of  their  sup- 
posed principal  duties,  knowing  nothing  of 
these  duties  till  they  enter  upon  them.  This 
is  as  though  all  men  were  to  be  soldiers 
with  the  fate  of  nations  in  their  hands,  and 
no  man  taught  or  told  a  word  of  war  or 
military  service,  until  he  entered  the  battle- 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  65 

field.  The  education  of  young  women  has 
no  department  of  maternity.  It  is  considered 
indelicate  to  give  this  consecrated  function- 
ary any  previous  knowledge  of  her  sacred 
duties.  The  most  important  and  wonderful 
of  human  functions  is  left  from  age  to  age 
in  the  hands  of  absolutely  untaught  women. 
The  children  of  humanity  are  born  into  the 
arms  of  an  endless  succession  of  untrained 
mothers,  who  bring  to  the  care  and  teaching 
of  their  children  neither  education  for  that 
wonderful  work  nor  experience  therein; 
they  bring  merely  the  intense  accumulated 
force  of  a  brute  instinct,  the  blind  devoted 
passion  of  the  mother  for  the  child.  Simply 
to  love  the  child  does  not  serve  him,  unless 
specific  acts  of  service  express  that  love. 
What  these  acts  of  service  are,  and  how 
they  are  performed  make  or  mar  his  life 
forever. 

Observe  the  futility  of  unaided  maternal 
love  and  instinct  in  the  simple  act  of  feeding 
the  child.  Belonging  to  order  mammalia 
the  human  mother  has  an  instinctive  desire 
to  suckle  her  young  (some  ultra -civilized 
have  lost  even  that.)  But  this  instinct  has 
not  taught  her  such  habits  of  life  as  insure 
her  ability  to  fulfil  this  natural  function. 


66  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

Failing  in  the  natural  method,  of  what  fur- 
ther use  is  instinct  in  the  nourishment  of  the 
child?  Can  maternal  instinct  discriminate 
between  Marrow's  Food,  Hayrick's  Food 
and  Pestle's  Food,  Penny  &  Whistle's  Ster- 
ilized Milk  and  all  the  other  "infant's  foods" 
which  are  prepared  and  put  upon  the  mar- 
ket— by  men!  If  the  "bottle  baby"  survives 
the  loss  of  mother's  milk,  when  he  comes 
to  the  table,  does  maternal  instinct  suffice 
then  to  administer  a  proper  diet  for  young 
children?  Let  the  doctor  and  the  under- 
taker answer. 

Women  enter  a  position  which  gives  into 
their  hands  direct  responsibility  for  the  life 
or  death  of  the  whole  human  race  with 
neither  study  nor  experience,  with  no  shad- 
ow of  preparation  or  guarantee  of  capability. 
So  far  as  they  give  it  a  thought  they  fondly 
imagine  that  this  mysterious  "maternal  in- 
stinct" will  see  them  through.  Instruction, 
if  needed,  they  will  pick  up  when  the  time 
comes,  experience  they  will  acquire  as  the 
children  appear.  "I  guess  I  know  how  to 
bring  up  children''  cried  the  resentful  old 
lady  who  was  being  advised,  ''I've  buried 
seven."  The  record  of  untrained  instinct  as  a 
maternal  faculty  in  the  human  race  is  to  be 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  67 

read  on  the  rows  and  rows  of  little  grave 
stones  which  crowd  our  cemetaries.  The 
experience  gained  by  practising  on  the  child 
is  frequently  buried  with  it. 

As  to  the  most  important  thing  of  all,  the 
choice  of  the  father  of  her  child,  we  ask, 
how  can  a  young  girl  know  a  good  prospec- 
tive father?  That  she  is  not  so  educated  as 
to  know  proves  her  unfitness  for  her  great 
task.  That  she  does  not  think  or  care  proves 
her  dishonorable  indifference  to  her  great 
duty.  She  can  in  no  way  shirk  the  respon- 
sibility for  criminal  carelessness  in  choosing 
a  father  for  her  children  unless,  indeed,  there 
were  no  choice,  no  good  men  left  on  earth. 

Moreover,  we  are  not  obliged  to  leave 
this  crucial  choice  in  the  hands  of  young 
girls.  Motherhood  is  the  work  of  grown 
women,  not  of  half-children,  and  when  we 
honestly  care  as  much  for  motherhood  as 
we  pretend,  we  shall  train  the  woman  for 
her  duty,  not  the  girl  for  her  guileless  man- 
oeuvres to  secure  a  husband.  We  talk  about 
the  noble  duties  of  a  mother,  but  our  maidens 
are  educated  for  economically  successful 
marriage.  We  try  to  get  an  "experienced" 
nurse.  We  insist  on  an  "experienced"  phy- 
sician. But  our  idea  of  an  experienced 


68  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

mother  is  simply  one  who  has  borne  many 
children,  as  if  parturition  was  an  educative 
process! 

To  experience  the  pangs  of  childbirth,  or 
the  further  pangs  of  a  baby's  funeral  adds 
nothing  whatever  to  the  mother's  knowledge 
of  the  proper  care,  clothing,  feeding  and 
teaching  of  a  child.  The  educative  depart- 
ment of  maternity  is  not  a  personal  function 
it  is  in  its  very  nature  a  social  function;  and 
we  fail  grievously  in  its  fulfilment." 

During  a  period  of  six  years,  ending  in 
the  year  1890,  there  were  18,862  still-born 
children  in  the  City  of  New  York,  about 
one-thirteenth  of  the  entire  death  aggregate. 
Were  these  the  welcome  off -spring  of  mated 
and  loving  parents,  of  healthy  and  well-sexed 
stock  ?  It  may  not  be  generally  known  that 
one-third  of  our  entire  population  die  before 
the  age  of  five  years.  Is  it  reasonable  to 
claim  that  negligence  after  birth  is  the  sole 
cause  for  this  wholesale  slaughter?  I  ven- 
ture to  claim  that  the  large  majority  of  these 
deaths  are  due  to  the  mating  of  diseased  or 
unloving  couples,  and  to  the  physical  sub- 
jection of  woman  in  the  marriage  relation. 

When  we  see  every  day  around  us  women 
bearing  children  who  have  been  conceived 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  69 

in  revolt,  disgust,  or,  at  best,  in  a  despairing 
apathy;  when  we  hear  every  day  the  stories 
of  women  who  are  living  with  mem  whom 
they  despise  or  at  best  merely  tolerate,  yet 
to  whom  they  annually  bear  a  child;  when 
we  take  in  our  arms  infants  who  have  been 
the  result  of  rape  practised  by  a  half-intoxi- 
cated man  upon  the  wife  whom  he  has  sworn 
to  honor,  we  are  not  surprised  at  the  facts 
given  us  by  statistics,  do  not  wonder  at  the 
army  of  defectives,  insane  and  criminals  that 
perpetually  threaten  our  life  and  peace;  that 
our  state  governments  expend  $50,000,000 
annually  for  charitable  purposes;  that  one 
out  of  every  755  persons  in  our  population 
is  a  prisoner;  that  here  in  the  United  States 
we  average  14,000  murders  a  year,  or  38 
murders  a  day,  besides  100  executions  and 
100  lynchings  annually. 

Let  a  woman  understand  that  it  is  a  crime 
to  bear  children  to  a  man  whom  she  does 
not  thoroughly  respect  and  love;  that  lone- 
liness and  poverty  are  better  than  a  legalized 
prostitution  or  enforced  maternity,  and  that 
she  is  and  will  be  forever  responsible  for 
the  children  to  whom  she  gives  a  heritage 
of  feeble  health,  arrested  brain  development 
and  perverted  sexuality. 


70  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

Dr.  Brixton  of  Liverpool,  England,  tells  us 
that  from  ten  to  twelve  per  cent  of  our  deaf- 
mutes  are  the  children  of  cousins.  In  Dr.  S. 
T.  Howe's  Report  to  the  Massachusetts  Leg- 
islature, he  says:  "One-twentieth  of  the  idiots 
were  the  children  of  cousins.  Seventeen  such 
marriages  produced  95  children,  of  whom 
44  are  idiots  and  12  more  puny." 

Would  the  knowledge  of  such  facts  as 
these  have  a  deterrent  effect?  Would  it  be 
wise  in  the  interest  of  a  healthy  nation  that 
our  young  people  should  be  made  acquain- 
ted with  these  and  similar  statistics? 

In  a  marriage  choice  it  is  important  to 
guard  against  duplicating  in  the  wife  or  hus- 
band personal  weakness  or  peculiarities;  on 
general  principles  we  may  say  that  marrying 
opposites  will  produce  normal  children;  the 
cautious  should  mate  with  the  impulsive,  the 
careless  with  the  neat,  the  quick-tempered 
with  the  equable,  the  nervous  with  the  phleg- 
matic, the  stout  with  the  thin.  In  the  case 
of  any  physical  weakness  this  recommenda- 
tion is  imperative.  A  woman  with  pulmon- 
ary weakness  if  mated  to  a  man  of  strong 
lungs  and  good  physical  record  may  not,  and 
probably  will  not  hand  on  her  weakness  to 
her  children;  let  her  marry  a  man  who  is 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  IN  THE  SOCIAL  SCHEME  71 

similarly  affected,  or  in  whose  family  there 
is  tendency  towards  phthisis  and  the  diffi- 
culty will  appear  as  a  fatal  disease  in  the 
next  generation. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  that 
a  similarity  in  tastes  is  essential  to  good 
comradeship;  and  that  in  culture  and  the 
ideals  of  life,  equality  is  to  be  desired,  if 
indeed  it  be  not  absolutely  essential  to  a 
satisfactory  and  harmonious  marriage. 

Looking  at  the  matter  solely  from  a  utili- 
tarian standpoint,  it  is  an  egregious  blunder 
in  economics  that  our  young  people  are  not 
thoroughly  and  wisely  informed  in  these 
matters.  A  scientific  study  of  heredity  would 
be  vastly  more  important  both  to  the  indi- 
vidual and  to  the  State  than  that  of  geom- 
etry: and  if  the  government  would  place 
this  study  in  its  public-school  curriculum, 
and  employ  efficient  teachers  of  it,  there 
might  be  a  very  definite  decrease  in  the 
number  of  defectives,  idiots,  feeble-minded 
and  criminals  for  whom  the  State  now  pro- 
vides. 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY 

CHAPTER    IV 


HERE  is  a  gladness  that  no 
man  living  can  ever  compre- 
hend; there  is  an  awe  of 
which  the  purity-clad  angel 
bending  in  the  high  courts  of 
heaven  could  have  but  a  dim 
perception;  there  is  a  silent  ecstasy  that  the 
saint,  in  his  night-watch  rapture,  but  faintly 
realizes;  these  are  things  mysterious,  stu- 
pendous, uninterpreted,  that  only  Divinity 
and  the  mother  know. 

The  night's  agony  is  over;  the  silence  is 
heavy  with  a  great  expectation,  and  the 
weary  head  turns  slowly  on  the  pillow,  with 
wistful,  questioning  eyes.  There  is  a  whis- 
per, hardly  more  than  a  breath :  "My  baby ;" 
and  the  wee  warm  bundle  is  laid  softly  in 
the  bed.  A  long,  deep  gaze,  and  the  mother 
closes  her  eyes  lest  the  attendants  should 
read  the  thing  that  is  too  great,  too  precious, 
too  holy  for  any  but  herself  and  God. 

In  that  moment  she  has  seen  things  hither- 
to undreamed  of;  she  is  near  to  the  Source 


MOTHERHOOD    A   JOY  73 

of  Life,  and  the  doubts  that  beset  her  in 
times  past,  doubts  of  the  design  of  things, 
doubts  of  the  goodness  of  Power,  are  swept 
away  as,  at  the  sea-brink,  the  smoke  of  a 
passing  mist  is  blown  to  the  forgetfulness 
of  the  all-absorbing  ocean. 

It  needs  no  priest  to  tell  her  of  the  love 
of  the  All-Father  now;  she  knows.  And 
the  Supreme  Self-sacrifice,  she  understands 
that  now. 

The  world,  too,  has  changed  with  the  God. 
It  is  the  world  of  mothers,  of  little  child- 
ren; what  before  was  an  undefined  impulse 
now  has  an  infinite  meaning,  and  the  truth 
of  an  eternal  sisterhood  can  never  be  lost 
again. 

The  fully-awakened  soul  reaches  out  with 
a  wide,  sure  sympathy;  and  in  the  heart  of 
a  great  stillness  the  new  dawn  wakes.  The 
sense  of  oneness  with  the  Eternal,  the  cre- 
ating principle,  will  lie  through  the  years 
hidden  away  in  the  deeps  of  consciousness; 
and  life,  and  hope,  and  the  power  to  do 
are  clothed  in  the  white  samite  of  a  great 
and  inexpressible  beauty. 

This  is  what  the  realization  of  mother- 
hood may  mean  to  a  woman;  this,  and  much 
more;  and  all  apart  from  and  beyond  the 


74  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

delight  of  personal  possession,  the  pride  of 
accomplishment,  the  joy  of  a  common  own- 
ership with  the  man  she  loves. 

Let  us  turn  from  the  spiritual  significance 
of  the  epoch  to  consider  the  material  con- 
ditions of  the  things  that  pertain  to  mother- 
hood and  to  the  development  of  the  race. 

There  is  no  thoughtful  student  of  the  sub- 
ject who  will  not  agree  with  the  Malthusians 
that  every  consideration  of  race  advance- 
ment and  individual  liberty  calls  for  jthe 
restriction,  by  every  legitimate  means,  of 
the  begetting  of  children  born  to  a  heritage 
of  disease,  indigence  and  insanity;  we  need 
not,  however,  dwell  at  any  length  upon  the 
negative  side  of  the  question. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  talk  today  among 
students  of  the  question  of  population,  about 
"fewer  children  and  better  ones;"  and  a 
reasonable  discretion  as  to  the  number  of 
a  family,  with  due  consideration  as  to  the 
conditions,  physical  and  financial,  of  the 
parents  would  seem  the  most  elementary 
wisdom.  The  old-fashioned  expression  of 
a  vaguely  imagined  Christian  idea,  that  the 
Lord  was  responsible  for  the  number  of 
children  in  a  family,  and  that  he,  therefore, 
would  provide,  is  out-of-date  today.  The 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  75 

inevitable  question  awkwardly  obtruded  it- 
self— who  then  is  responsible  for  the  child- 
ren so  unjustly  branded  as  "illegitimate." 
If  the  Lord,  why  this  discrimination;  if 
not  the  Lord,  then  who? 

As  already  suggested,  the  matter  of  off- 
spring should  be  one  of  careful  thought, 
and  wise  consideration  of  conditions.  But 
for  reasons  that  will  be  clear  to  every  stu- 
dent of  this  question,  one  hesitates  to  lay 
too  much  stress  upon  this  aspect  of  it.  The 
very  poor,  to  whom  this  rule  would  most 
strongly  apply,  are  the  very  ones  whom  it 
is  impossible,  at  least  under  present  condi- 
tions, for  us  to  reach.  The  rich  usually  will 
not  be  troubled  with  large  families  of  child- 
ren, and  the  lives  of  luxury  and  idleness 
which  they  lead  would  scarcely  give  us  the 
best  results  if  they  would.  Leaving  out, 
then,  the  very  poor,  whom  we  do  not  desire 
to  have  many  children,  and  the  rich  who 
will  not  have  them,  who  then  are  to  bear 
the  great  sons  and  daughters  that  our  coun- 
try needs,  who  are  to  represent  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  the  nation?  The  great  middle 
class,  the  thinking  class,  to  which  most  of 
us  belong. 

The    question    is,    do    we    need   caution 


76  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

against  over-production  or  do  we  need,  as 
a  whole,  caution  of  another  kind.  What  is 
the  tendency  of  the  day?  Let  us  look  at 
our  own  homes,  and  at  those  of  our  own 
friends,  and  see  what  evidence  we  have.  Do 
we  find  suffering  from  the  effect  of  exces- 
sive child-bearing,  or  from  the  effects  of 
more  or  less  successful  attempts  at  abortion? 
I  do  not  think  I  need  push  this  question 
further. 

It  is  estimated  by  authorities  who  have 
made  it  their  business  to  inquire  carefully 
into  this  matter  that  32  per  cent  of  the 
300,000  epileptic  and  idiotic  persons  in  the 
United  States  have  been  the  results  of  at- 
tempts at  abortion  through  drugs  and  other- 
wise. While  we  have  90,000  epileptic  and 
feeble-minded  children  from  this  one  cause, 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  still-born 
children  and  sickly  ones  who  die  at  an  early 
age — all  as  a  result  of  attempts  at  the  de- 
struction of  embryo  life,  we  must  pause  and 
consider  whether  our  young  parents  do  not 
need  some  other  instruction  than  counsel 
against  over-numerous  families. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  we 
have  one  insane  person  to  every  460  sane 
ones  in  this  great  republic  of  ours;  that 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  77 

while  the  population  of  the  city  of  New 
York  has  increased  one-third  in  three  years 
crime  has  increased  over  one-half. 

Is  there  any  connection  between  these 
facts  and  the  frequency  of  attempted  abor- 
tion ?  This  class  of  crime  has  increased  more 
than  any  other  in  the  last  twenty-five  years. 
Statistics  of  abortion,  which  probably  would 
not  include  over  one-half  the  actual  number 
of  cases,  indicate  that  fully  one-third  as 
many  children  are  murdered  before  birth 
as  are  born. 

Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  if  children  born 
of  parents  who  have  habitually  murdered 
their  off-spring,  should  manifest  criminal 
tendencies?  Is  it  any  wonder  that  suicide 
and  homicide  are  on  the  increase?  There 
are  many  well  authenticated  instances  where 
the  degeneracy  of  children,  the  inborn  de- 
sire to  commit  crime  were  known  to  be 
the  direct  result  of  this  attempt;  where  an- 
cestry offered  no  possible  clue,  where  the 
parents  were  mild  inoffensive  persons  (save 
in  this  matter)  and  where  the  children  from 
babyhood  evinced  violent  passions  and  mur- 
derous tendencies. 

The  restriction  of  population  as  advocated 
by  social  reformers,  needless  to  say,  con- 


78  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

templates  no  such  iniquity  as  this;  care, 
wisdom,  discretion,  self-control,  these  are 
the  necessary  and  the  sole  factors  in  the 
production  of  "fewer  and  better  children." 

We  desire  to  prevent  the  over-population 
of  the  tenement  districts;  but  do  we  see  to 
it  that  our  own  children  are  well  born  ?  Do 
our  babies  come  into  a  heritage  of  magni- 
ficent health,  moral  and  physical,  and  of  su- 
perb mental  endowments,  or  are  they  the 
chance  off-spring  of  indolent  and  ignorant 
parents,  the  result  of  desire  on  one  hand  and 
concession  on  the  other;  the  inheritors  of 
an  undeveloped  mentality,  of  vulgar  preju- 
dice, of  irresponsible  egotism? 

The  laws  of  heredity  are  inflexible;  we 
may  cover  up  our  weaknesses  in  our  daily 
intercourse  with  our  fellows,  we  may  dream 
of  averting  punishment  for  misdeeds  by 
prayers  to  a  placable  Deity,  but  there  is  no 
bargaining  vrith  heredity. 

If  I  were  to  put  my  hand  into  the  fire 
deliberately,  and  pray  to  the  Almighty  that 
I  might  not  be  burned,  people  would  call 
me  a  fool;  but  a  woman  will  bear  children 
to  a  drunkard  or  a  profligate  and  then  pray 
to  God  that  her  little  ones  may  be  pure  and 
noble,  without  any  realization  of  her  folly. 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  79 

Some  years  ago,  a  well-known  woman 
physician  was  lecturing  in  New  York  City 
on  the  subject  of  heredity.  At  the  con- 
clusion of  the  lecture,  a  lady,  who,  with  her 
son,  a  lad  of  about  seventeen,  had  occupied 
a  prominent  seat  in  the  hall,  came  upon  the 
platform  and  introduced  herself  to  the  lec- 
turer. 

"What  you  have  been  saying  is  true''  she 
said:  "but  /am  going  to  prove  to  the  world 
that,  for  the  praying  mother,  God  can  over- 
turn the  laws  of  heredity." 

"No,  dear,"  said  the  lecturer,  shaking  her 
head. 

That  mother  was  one  for  whom,  a  few 
years  later,  every  mother's  heart  in  America 
was  aching;  that  boy  was  Carlyle  Harris, 
killed  by  electrical  execution  at  23  years  of 
age;  the  child  of  a  dissipated  and  dissolute 
father. 

For  motherhood  to  be  truly  a  joy  it  is 
essential  that  the  child  be  started  fairly.  To 
choose  for  the  father  of  our  children  one 
who  is  deserving  of  the  honor,  to  marry  a 
man  of  upright  and  manly  thought  and  life, 
one  who  is,  if  possible,  our  complement  in 
temperament  and  attainments;  to  so  govern 
our  life  that  the  good  in  ourselves  is  fos- 


80  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

tered  and  the  evil  overcome;  and  to  add  to 
these  a  good  initial  heredity,  is  to  lay  a  sure 
foundation  for  a  great  and  noble  soul. 

By  initial  heredity  is  meant  that  heredity 
which  is  set  in  motion  by  the  thought  which 
dominates  the  parents  before  and  at  the  time 
of  conception,  and  which  is  so  very  often 
a  powerful  counteracting  as  well  as  aiding 
influence  in  the  child's  life. 

A  high-souled  son  has  been  known  to  be 
born  to  doubtful  parents,  who  were  at  the 
time  mentally  and  spiritually  exalted;  and 
cases  are  known  of  imbecile  children  who 
were  the  result  of  very  rare  deviations  from 
rectitude,  in  cases  of  habitually  temperate 
fathers  who,  perhaps  for  one  occasion  only, 
were  in  a  state  of  intoxication. 

Atavism,  the  heredity  taken  from  the 
grandparents  and  ancestors,  has,  of  course, 
to  be  reckoned  with,  and  a  man  and  woman 
who  wish  their  children  to  be  perfect  will 
inquire  closely  into  the  constitution  and  fami- 
ly history  on  both  sides  and  order  themselves 
accordingly. 

For  the  comfort  of  those  who  feel  over- 
weighted with  a  burden  of  bad  heredity 
which  they  fear  to  hand  on  to  their  child- 
ren, it  is  well  to  lay  stress  on  initial  her- 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  8 1 

edity.  In  any  case  it  must  be  remembered 
that  environment  counts  for  much;  heredity, 
though  sure  and  powerful,  is  no  Juggernaut; 
its  influence  may  be  arrested  and  modified 
by  the  power  of  knowledge  and  will. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  in  the  medical 
world,  and  one  taken  into  consideration  by 
the  family  physician  in  his  diagnoses  of 
cases,  that  the  eldest  child  in  a  family  is 
very  likely  to  inherit  family  peculiarities 
from  which  later  children  are  exempt.  The 
"crank"  as  well  as  the  genius  is,  more  often 
than  not,  the  eldest  child;  it  would  almost 
seem  as  though  Nature,  working  towards 
the  highest  point  of  development  of  the  spe- 
cies, were  impatient  to  get  rid  of  oddities 
or  undesirable  family  traits,  and  occasionally 
crowds  them  all  upon  the  head  of  the  first- 
born. 

If  this  be  the  case,  and  if  the  fact  of  in- 
itial heredity  is  to  be  accepted,  we  have  an 
unanswerable  argument  for  the  careful  in- 
struction of  the  young  in  sex  matters. 

The  eldest  child  is  usually  conceived  in 
the  early  days  of  married  life;  what  oppor- 
tunity for  modifying  untoward  or  deterrent 
family  characteristics  will  the  ignorant  and 
impetuous  young  man  and  woman  have, 


82 WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

unless  instruction  as  to  the  importance  and 
possibilities  of  their  own  powers  of  thought 
be  given  them  in  advance? 

It  may  be  noticed  that  a  very  large  per- 
centage of  first-born  children  die  in  infancy 
or  before  maturity  is  reached,  if  indeed  the 
child  be  not  still-born;  ignorance  of  sexual 
laws  and  unrestrained  indulgence  in  marital 
relations  during  pregnancy  may  account 
for  this  fact. 

The  heading  of  this  chapter  suggests  the 
question:  In  the  social  life  of  America  as 
it  is  at  present,  is  motherhood  a  joy?  We 
are  reluctantly  obliged  to  confess  that,  at 
least  in  city  communities,  it  is  not.  The 
testimony  of  thousands  of  physicians  make 
the  answer  but  too  decisive.  What  is  ap- 
parently the  dominating  desire  in  the  minds 
of  women  of  the  better  classes  in  America 
today?  The  desire  to  avoid  bearing  children. 

It  seems  as  though  the  maternal  instinct 
were  being  visited  by  some  strange  blight; 
and  also  that  the  desire  for  the  protection 
of  life  were  a  thing  not  to  be  comprehended 
by  feminine  nature  of  a  certain  type.  The 
crime  of  abortion  is  increasing  to  an  alarm- 
ing extent,  and  the  perpetrators  seem  to  be 
lost  to  all  sense  of  shame.  If  the  women 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  83 

who  beset  the  physicians  with  requests  for 
criminal  operation  were  young  girls  who 
had  erred  and  who  dreaded  the  world's  cen- 
sure, one  could  understand  the  impulse;  but 
when  married  women  either  thoughtlessly, 
or  weakly,  or  viciously  clamor  for  an  un- 
righteous deliverance  from  what  should  be 
their  pride  and  joy,  it  is  indeed  time  to  in- 
quire into  the  cause. 

The  same  extraordinary  reasoning  that  will 
make  a  woman  refuse  to  tell  an  absolute, 
literal  untruth,  and  yet  will  allow  her  to 
misrepresent  by  implication  or  insinuation 
to  any  extent,  seems  to  hold  good  in  the 
matter  of  the  taking  of  embryo  and  infant 
life. 

To  strangle  the  child  after  birth  would 
be  murder  and  monstrous,  to  destroy  the 
unborn  child  after  life  is  felt  and  before 
birth  would  be  a  lesser  crime,  but  still  wrong ; 
but  to  take  away  the  life  at  an  earlier  stage, 
to  prevent  the  growth  into  the  thing  that 
afterwards  becomes  valuable,  this  is  con- 
sidered, by  the  class  of  women  to  whom  I 
have  referred,  as  no  harm  at  all! 

In  destroying  the  foetus  in  its  most  ele- 
mentary stage  a  woman  destroys  her  child 
just  as  surely  as  though  she  waited  .a  few 


84 WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

months  and  then  performed  the  same  act; 
this  is  so  obvious  a  conclusion  that  it  would 
seem  a  waste  of  time  to  present  it  were  it 
not  for  the  fact  of  the  widespread  and  egre- 
gious ignorance  and  sophistry  behind  which 
women  of  the  day  shelter  themselves  in  this 
regard. 

If,  then,  motherhood  is  often  not  a  joy, 
and  such  a  conclusion  would  seem  to  be 
inevitable,  we  are  naturally  driven  into  a 
search  for  the  reasons.  These  may  be  di- 
vided into  four  classes: 

(1)  Physical  incapacity  and  fear. 

(2)  Undesired  maternity  forced  upon  the 
woman  through  the  selfishness  of  the  hus- 
band. 

(3)  Social  ambitions  and  personal  self- 
ishness, and 

(4)  Inadequate  means  of  support  for  a 
large  family. 

i.  Physical  incapacity  and  fear.  Physi- 
cally speaking,  the  generality  of  our  city-bred 
women  are  not  properly  fitted  for  real  mari- 
tal joy  or  for  happy  childbearing;  and  not 
until  there  is  radical  change  of  thought  and 
life  will  motherhood  and  sex-intercourse  be 
the  exquisite  satisfaction  that  they  were 
designed  to  be. 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  85 

If  women  were  in  proper  condition  phys- 
ically and  mentally  there  need  be  no  fear 
in  the  approach  of  the  hours  of  parturition, 
little  outcry  or  misery  in  the  consummation. 

A  body  properly  trained  and  developed, 
and  a  reasonable,  well-balanced  mind,  will 
approach  the  ordeal  in  a  spirit  of  glad  cour- 
age, and  somewhat  with  this  thought:  "It  is 
a  great  thing  that  I  am  about  to  do,  the 
bringing  into  the  world  of  a  new  life;  let 
me  do  it  grandly,  temperately,  courageously. 
Great  pain  requires  a  brave  spirit;  I  do  not 
underrate  the  pain,  but  I  bring  all  my  force 
to  meet  and  utilize  it.  Let  me  make  of  this 
act  the  great  thing  that  it  may  be;  give  it 
dignity,  and  so  uphold  the  beauty  of  ma- 
ternity." 

Although  few  women  can  be  found  to 
look  upon  it  in  this  light  I  cannot  but  feel 
that  this  pain  of  childbiith  is  one  most 
easily  borne  if  the  mental  condition  is  right. 
Allowing  for  a  state  of  happy  expectation 
of  the  child-life,  and  a  normal,  healthy  con- 
dition of  body,  mind  and  emotion,  I  cannot 
understand  a  lack  of  supreme  exultation  in 
the  definite,  necessary  physical  suffering. 

A  pain  which  is  the  result  of  unhealthy 
living  or  a  condition  of  disease  carries  with 


86 WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

it  a  sense  of  hopelessness  and  helplessness; 
the  laws  of  nature  have  been  defied,  and 
the  penalty  must  be  paid.  In  the  case  of 
the  ushering  into  the  world  of  a  new  exist- 
ence there  is  no  such  feeling.  At  work  with 
the  Creative  Power,  a  woman  is  performing 
her  unique  task;  every  throe  has  a  mean- 
ing, draws  her  nearer  to  the  consummation. 
The  feeling  that  she  is  not  expiating  but 
accomplishing,  that  she  is  not  paying  a 
penalty  but  executing  a  high  function;  this 
would  seem  to  be  enough  to  close  the  lips 
and  prevent  a  lamentation  and  outcry  that 
both  hinders  the  achievement  physiologi- 
cally, and  offends  the  innate  sense  of  what 
is  seemly  and  legitimate. 

While  I  feel  this  to  be  true,  I  realize  that 
every  allowance  should  be  made  for  the 
distress  of  one  who  is  called  iipon  to  bear 
this  responsibility  for  the  first  time. 

The  unknown  is  always  the  terrible,  and 
an  inevitable  nervousness  shatters  the  foun- 
dation of  courage.  Even  this  condition,  how- 
ever, may  be  mitigated  by  wise  thought  as 
the  crisis  approaches,  by  a  gathering  together 
af  all  the  forces  of  the  soul,  and  by  refus- 
ing to  listen  to  the  harrowing  tales  which 
so-called  friends  may  be  unwise  enough 


MOTHERHOOD  A   JOY  87 

to  consider  a  fitting  prelude  to  the  occasion. 

In  the  case  of  an  experienced  woman, 
there  is  no  such  excuse;  I  look  forward  to 
a  time  when  not  only  will  the  physical  an- 
guish be  less  acute,  but  the  bearing  of  it 
be  conducted  with  dignity  and  silence,  when 
a  woman,  with  all  her  great  womanly  ca- 
pacity for  endurance  condensed  into  a  god- 
like effort,  with  a  glad  sense  of  power,  of 
personal  control  over  physical  expression, 
will  glory  in  the  work  that  is  given  her  to  do. 

2.  Undesired  maternity.  As  the  birth  of 
a  child  into  a  home  of  love  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  of  life-pictures,  so  is  the 
thought  of  an  undesired  maternity  evil  and 
revolting. 

The  trying  months  of  pregnancy  unac- 
companied by  joyful  expectation  or  tender 
ante-natal  love  can  only  be  thought  of  as  a 
species  of  purgatory.  No  woman  who  has 
any  regard  for  her  own  welfare  or  that  of 
her  child,  will  trust  the  grave  matter  of  con- 
ception to  chance.  That  the  majority  of 
children  in  a  family  are  thus  begotten,  is 
but  too  true;  hence  the  increasing  army  of 
women  who  see  in  the  horrors  of  abortion 
their  only  chance  of  escape. 

Apart  from  the  moral  evil  implied  in  the 


WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 


wilful  destruction  of  life;  and  apart  also 
from  the  fact  that  in  many  cases  the  de- 
sired end  is  not  attained,  and  the  unfortun- 
ate child  is  finally  born  with  the  seeds  of 
self-destruction,  or  at  least  with  a  melan- 
choly unrest  and  morbidness  in  his  little 
soul;  it  is  universally  conceded  by  physi- 
cians that  the  physical  result  of  abortion 
upon  woman  is  disastrous  in  the  extreme. 

If,  then,  there  are  to  be  no  chance  child- 
ren, how  is  it  to  be  avoided  ?  How  are  the 
vehement  demands  of  Nature  to  be  satisfied  ? 

The  Malthusians  think  they  have  settled 
the  difficulty  by  advocating  the  use  of  me- 
chanical appliances;  and  in  one  form  or 
another  similar  methods  are  employed  by 
those_who  would  avoid  parenthood. 

At  the  best,  and  without  regard  to  the 
ethical  significance  of  such  procedure,  there 
is  no  sensitive  man  or  woman  who  will  not 
shrink  from  an  alternative  that  threatens  the 
beauty  of  the  moment  with  prosaic  sugges- 
tion; eliminate  the  poetry  from  the  act  and 
you  have  taken  away  all  that  is  worth  having. 

In  speaking  of  the  legitimate  use  of  the 
freedom  in  sexual  matters  afforded  by  mar- 
riage, one  is  touching  upon  a  supremely 
difficult  and  delicate  subject. 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  89 

The  ideal  life  is  easy  to  perceive  and  to 
advocate;  absolute  continence  except  where 
there  is  loving  desire  for  offspring,  and 
during  the  months  of  pregnancy. 

Experience  shows  that  however  wise  it 
may  be  to  put  forward  the  highest  as  the 
ideal,  the  attainment  of  it  is  as  difficult  to 
the  average  man  or  woman  as  the  leading 
of  the  Christ-life  is  to  the  average  Christian. 
It  is  a  serious  question  how  far  one  is  jus- 
tified in  even  a  tacit  lowering  of  the  stand- 
ard, and  yet  to  the  practical  mind  some 
compromise  would  seem  inevitable. 

As  the  preacher  honestly  and  earnestly 
preaches  the  true  Christ-life  to  his  flock, 
while  himself  falling  far  below  the  stand- 
ards which  he  presents,  so  may  we,  in  whose 
hands  are  the  malleable  minds  of  children, 
inculcate  in  them  the  principles  that  gov- 
ern a  perfect  sexual  life.  I  do  not  doubt 
that  the  children  of  the  coming  generation, 
wisely  guided  by  the  newly -awakened 
thought  of  parents  and  teachers,  and  being 
themselves  the  offspring  of  noble  intentions 
and  aspirations,  may  be  able,  in  this  regard, 
to  reach  a  higher  level  of  thought  and  life 
than  the  possible  of  today. 

The  present  generation,  however,  is  the 


90  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

result  of  the  carelessness  and  ignorance  of 
the  past.  Men's  ideas  of  sex  are  permeated 
with  sensuality,  women's  with  prudery;  and 
the  ideal  sex-life  is  a  rare  actuality. 

In  using  the  term  "chance  child"  I  do  not 
wish  to  convey  a  wrong  impression. 

In  the  case  of  two  who  love  each  other 
truly  and  devotedly,  to  whom  every  act  of 
coition  is  a  sacrament,  a  tender,  exquisite 
and  unselfish  impulse,  and  who  are  ever 
ready  to  welcome  the  advent  of  a  child 
with  love  and  joy,  there  can  be  no  "chance 
child."  When  each  love-embrace  is  given 
with  the  thought  that  its  result  will  be  joy- 
fully accepted,  there  is  no  question  as  to  the 
beneficent  influences  which  will  surround 
the  child,  if  such  should  come. 

My  warning  is  directed  to  the  very  large 
number  of  married  people  whose  cohabita- 
tion is  in  defiance  of  parenthood;  who,  while 
they  are  not  willing  to  restrict  themselves 
in  sexual  indulgence,  resolutely  and  deter- 
minately  refuse  to  contemplate  the  responsi- 
bility or  the  care  of  a  new  life;  who  are 
leading  lives  that  are  contrary  to  nature,  and 
who  must,  perforce,  pay  the  penalty  in  their 
own  persons,  and  in  those  of  their  acciden- 
tally-conceived children. 


MOTHERHOOD  A   JOY  9! 

Dislike  of  so-called  Malthusian  practices 
brings  forward  the  old  problem.  It  is  sug- 
gested by  Dr.  Stockham  of  Chicago  and 
other  authors  of  recent  date  that  a  reason- 
able restraint  should  be  exercised  during 
the  time  when  conception  is  likely  to  take 
place.  They  claim  that  it  will  be  found 
quite  feasible,  during  the  period  when  com- 
plete expression  is  undesirable,  to  deliber- 
ately turn  the  thought  from  passionate  into 
affectionate  channels;  to  create  an  ideal, 
loving  intercourse  from  which  the  disturb- 
ing elements  of  desire  are  eliminated. 

While  this  method  of  marital  continence 
has  thus  been  set  forth  in  various  works, 
the  exponents  of  the  system  do  not,  of  course, 
recommend  abstinence.  Stress,  however,  is 
laid  on  the  fact  that  the  sex-act  is  not  nec- 
essarily a  procreative  act;  that  physical  and 
mental  strength  may  be  augmented  by  an 
intercourse  that  is  avowedly  and  intention- 
ally for  love  purposes,  and  reciprocal  and 
affectionate  in  its  expression.  It  is  claimed 
that  the  satisfactory  conduct  of  such  an  act 
presupposes  a  controlled  imagination  and 
the  exercise  of  will-power,  especially  in  the 
initial  or  experimental  stage;  after  this  man- 
ner of  living  has  become  a  habit  it  no  longer 


92  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

presents  any  difficulties.  The  mind,  being 
the  controlling  power,  dictates  with  abso- 
lute authority. 

Whether  or  not  this  method  of  marital 
living  represents  the  highest  is  a  matter  for 
conjecture;  but  in  so  far  as  it  is  a  decided 
advance  upon  the  self-indulgence  and  irre- 
sponsibility of  the  past  it  may  be  worth 
consideration. 

However  a  woman  may  be  satisfied  to 
sacrifice  her  personal  wishes  to  the  demands 
or  coercion  of  a  husband  in  all  matters  re- 
lating to  her  own  desires  and  welfare  solely, 
she  may  not,  righteously,  yield  one  inch 
where  the  moral  or  physical  health  of  her 
child  is  concerned.  It  is  to  be  questioned 
how  far  she  is  justified  in  sacrificing  her- 
self even  as  to  personal  liberty;  a  servile 
mother  is  not  likely  to  give  birth  to  a  cour- 
ageous and  noble  son. 

But  in  all  matters  that  concern  the  defi- 
nite well-being  of  her  offspring,  the  mother 
is  bound  by  every  law  of  nature  and  of 
reason  to  be  supreme  mistress  of  herself. 
She  owes  it  both  to  the  child  and  to  future 
generations  that  he  shall  be  well  born;  and 
no  man  who  is  fit  to  be  the  father  of  her 
children  will  do  aught  but  respect  her  the 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  93 

more,  if  in  these  matters  she  is  inflexible. 
The  fault,  as  a  rule,  does  not  lie  with  the 
woman,  except  in  so  far  as  cowardice  and 
a  fear  of  consequence  may  render  her  re- 
sponsible. 

A  pregnant  woman,  more  especially  in 
the  later  stages  of  her  condition,  should  be 
left  absolutely  free  to  conduct  her  wonder- 
ful work  in  quietness  and  sobriety;  instinct 
points  unqualifiedly  to  the  absence  of  sex- 
ual excitement  at  a  season  when  the  growth 
of  a  new  life  is  in  progress;  and  there  is 
no  doubt  that,  as  before  suggested,  undue 
indulgence  at  this  time  may  endow  the  child 
with  an  abnormal  sensuality. 

Hitherto,  we  must  frankly  admit,  a  woman 
has  had  little  or  no  power  of  decision  as  to 
her  maternity;  the  question  being  decided 
if  not  by,  certainly  through,  the  will  of  the 
husband.  All  true  students  of  the  sex  ques- 
tion at  the  present  day  maintain  that  this 
condition  of  subserviency  on  the  part  of  the 
wife  is  a  fatal  error;  that  only  the  deliber- 
ate choice  of  the  woman  should  rule;  that 
only  when  she  feels  and  knows  that  the 
time  has  come  when  she  is  physically  and 
mentally  qualified  should  she  take  upon  her- 
self the  responsibility  of  maternity. 


94  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

It  is  contrary  to  our  ideal  thought,  as  it 
is,  we  believe,  contrary  to  the  great  scheme 
of  things,  that  there  should  be,  in  ever  so 
faint  a  degree,  antagonism  or  difference  of 
opinion  between  husband  and  wife  with 
reference  to  this,  the  greatest  of  all  social 
questions.  Under  ideal  conditions,  the  hus- 
band has  an  equally  intense  interest,  and  as 
judicious  forethought  for  the  well-being  of 
his  offspring  as  the  wife  who  has  the  more 
absorbing  and  difficult  task  to  perform. 
Fatherhood  is  to  him  no  less  important  than 
is  her  motherhood  to  her;  and  it  requires 
but  the  knowledge  of  the  best  in  condi- 
tion, environment  and  habit  to  make  him 
live  his  life  cheerfully  and  gladly  in  accor- 
dance with  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  has  been  suggested, 

7  OO  t 

the  majority  of  our  women  are,  from  one 
cause  or  another,  sexually  deficient;  and  this 
fact  serves  greatly  to  complicate  the  situation. 
In  many  cases  such  a  condition  is  the  re- 
sult of  a  wrong  method  of  life,  of  seden- 
tary habits,  of  pernicious  feeding;  sometimes 
it  is  caused  by  malformations  which  demand 
the  assistance  of  the  surgeon;  whatever  may 
be  the  cause,  a  step  in  the  right  direction 
will  be  taken  when  women  so  afflicted  rec- 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  95 

ognize  their  condition  as  one  to  be  deplored, 
and  duty  as  requiring  them  to  use  every 
legitimate  means  to  remove  from  them- 
selves the  stigma  of  imperfection. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  much  of  the  sex- 
ual inertness  on  the  part  of  wives  is  due 
to  the  ignorance  and  carelessness  of  their 
husbands.  Many  men  who  deplore  the 
coldness  of  their  wives  could  study  femi- 
nine sex-nature  with  satisfactory  results  to 
themselves.  Woman's  passion  has  its  source 
in  affection,  and  cannot  (generally  speaking) 
be  disassociated  from  it.  Hence  it  follows 
that  all  advances  should  be  through  loving 
caresses  and  tender,  patient  love-making.  A 
woman  is  a  delicate  musical  instrument  upon 
which  the  man  whom  she  loves  may  play 
at  will,  provided  he  has,  to  start  with,  a  com- 
prehension of  the  requirements  and  mechan- 
ism of  his  instrument.  Failing  this  knowl- 
edge, he  may,  and,  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
does  make  mistakes  which  prove  fatal  to  his 
own  happiness  and  inflict  upon  the  woman 
he  loves  not  only  crushing  blows  to  her 
sensitiveness,  but  in  many  instances  irrem- 
ediable mischief  to  her  physical  organism. 
Looking  at  the  matter  solely  from  the  point 
of  view  of  his  own  sexual  satisfaction,  no 


96  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

man  who  has  known  the  bliss  of  a  union 
whose  pleasure  is  mutual  will  ever  be  con- 
tented with  a  lesser  and  more  selfish  ex- 
perience. 

3.  Social  ambition  and  personal  selfish- 
ness.    It  is  the  fault  of  our  present  social 
life  that  both  men  and  women  are  animated 
by  a  craze  for  position  and  amusement  of 
which  our  parents  and  grandparents  knew 
nothing. 

The  woman  of  society  declines  to  bear 
children  because  of  the  months  of  enforced 
absence  from  her  fashionable  circle;  refuses 
to  nurse  her  own  child  because,  for  the  same 
reason,  it  is  more  convenient  to  let  another 
woman  perform  that  office  for  her.  And 
both  husband  and  wife,  deeming  social 
pleasures  an  indispensible  accompaniment 
of  life  find  their  income  insufficient,  and 
declare  they  cannot  afford  to  have  children. 
This  brings  us  to 

4.  Inadequate  means  of  support  for  a  large 
family;  the  excuse  most  often   urged,  and 
the  one  that    has    on  the  face  of   it    some 
elements  of  reason. 

That  my  reply  to  this  well  known  argu- 
will  be  of  the  nature  of  a  plea  for  a  large 
family  I  shall  not  deny. 


MOTHERHOOD  A  JOY  97 

No  sensible  man  or  woman  but  will  dep- 
recate in  every  possible  way  the  multipli- 
cation of  children  to  parents  who  are  men- 
tally, morally  and  physically  inefficient.  Our 
poorhouses  and  jails  are  full  of  speaking 
examples  of  reckless  and  unjustifiable  pro- 
creation. But  in  the  case  of  young,  vigorous 
men  and  women,  men  and  women  neither 
so  poor  that  they  must  lead  lives  of  priva- 
tion, nor  so  rich  that  the  luxury  that  enervates 
and  the  idleness  that  demoralizes  shall  have 
rendered  them  unworthy  of  the  duty  of  par- 
enthood, there  is  every  argument  in  favor 
of  a  large,  interdependent  family. 

As  far  as  we  can  judge,  the  answer  to 
the  plea  of  insufficient  income  resolves  it- 
self into  the  question,  What  are  the  neces- 
saries of  life? 

The  amount  of  money  yearly  spent  by  a 
man  in  the  indulgence  of  habits  that  are 
not  only  useless  but  injurious,  would  feed, 
clothe  and  educate  a  child.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  a  fashionable  woman. 

Why  not  give  up  this  or  that  luxury  and 
take  upon  one's  self  the  duty  and  care  of 
another  young  life?  Why  not  live  simply, 
plainly,  unostentatiously  and  rear  a  houseful 
of  children  who  will  be  a  glory  and  a  happi- 


98  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

ness,  who  will  be  near  to  cheer  old  age,  in 
whom  parents  would  see  themselves  with 
the  angles  and  roughness  rubbed  off,  in 
whom  they  could  re-live  their  own  lives 
and  so  gain  twice  over  what  the  world 
holds  of  good? 

And  in  the  interests  of  the  children  them- 
selves what  is  best? 

I  have  yet  to  see  the  young  man  or 
woman  who  has  been  the  worse  for  straight- 
ened circumstances  in  early  life.  On  the 
contrary,  the  need  of  diligence  and  appli- 
cation, the  incentive  for  exertion,  exercises 
a  most  salutary  influence  on  the  child.  As 
for  the  case  of  a  large  family,  it  is  well 
known  to  every  member  of  such  a  house- 
hold that  the  amount  of  labor  does  not  in- 
crease pro  rata;  the  younger  children  are 
aided  by  the  elder,  and  the  spirit  of  pro- 
tection and  unselfishness  thus  engendered 
is  of  much  benefit  to  the  young  natures. 

It  is  not  the  college  education  that  you 
give  your  son  that  will  make  him  great, 
although  a  college  education  is  a  good  thing. 
There  are  college-bred  nonentities  and  ne'er 
do  weels  as  there  are  great  men  who  knew 
no  teaching  but  that  of  the  public  school; 
and  the  world  is  a  good  educator. 


MOTHERHOOD    A  JOY  99 

Let  the  children  understand,  girls  as  well 
as  boys,  that  they  will  have  to  depend  upon 
their  own  exertions — they  will  be  all  the 
better  for  it. 

Though  this  will  not  do  everything  for 
her,  the  real  emancipation  of  woman  can 
only  be  realized  when  she  is  financially  in- 
dependent; so  long  as  women  marry  and 
cling  to  men  because  they  depend  upon 
them  for  a  livelihood,  so  long  will  profli- 
gates, drunkards  and  men  of  brutality  be 
allowed  to  hand  on  their  licentiousness  and 
blackguardism  to  future  generations. 

A  fit  of  anger  in  a  mother  has  been  known 
to  kill  a  nursing  child;  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  infant  draws  in  with  the  mother's 
milk  tendencies,  desires,  traits  that  mould 
its  future  life.  It  is  with  a  profound  disre- 
gard of  this  fact,  that  a  mother,  in  order 
to  attend  social  functions,  or  to  give  her- 
self more  time  and  freedom,  hires  another 
woman  to  impress  upon  her  child  charac- 
teristics and  habits  of  which  she  knows 
nothing,  and  which,  did  she  know  them, 
would,  very  probably,  fill  her  with  horror. 
I  know  of  a  large  family  whose  degeneracy 
can  clearly  be  traced  to  the  woman  at  whose 
breast  they  were  all  nourished,  a  woman  of 


IOO  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

brutal  instincts,  though  kindly  temper,  of 
fine  physique  but  low  moral  standards. 

The  other  alternative  of  the  selfish  mother, 
or  of  the  mother  whose  thoughts  are  right, 
but  whose  physical  condition  is  imperfect, 
is  the  nursing-bottle. 

Everyone  knows  that  in  case  of  an  at- 
tack of  disease  a  bottle-fed  baby  has  about 
one-third  the  chance  for  life  of  a  nursing 
infant;  this  would  seem  to  be  argument 
enough  for  a  mother. 

How  a  woman  can  convince  herself  that 
any  social  enjoyment  can  compensate  her 
for  the  loss  of  the  pleasure  of  nursing  her 
own  child,  is  almost  incomprehensible. 
The  little  wandering  mouth,  the  sweet, 
impatient  cry  of  expectation,  the  eager, 
strenuous  draining  of  the  maternal  fount, 
the  low,  contented  utterance,  the  sleep  of 
rosy  satisfaction;  these  are  sweets  that  it 
is  surely  hard  to  forego,  sweets  of  pure 
delight  which  no  triumphs  that  the  outside 
world  offers  can  equal. 

Knowledge,  courage,  love;  these  things 
are  needed  if  motherhood  is  to  be  truly  a 
joy;  knowledge  of  what  is  meant  by  moth- 
erhood, and  of  the  needs  and  claims  of 
the  child;  courage  to  demand  the  right  of 


MOTHERHOOD    A  JOY  IOI 

securing  for  her  child  the  highest  that  is 
possible  in  birth  and  environment;  love, 
that  she  may  bear  and  faint  not. 

The  trinity  may  not  be  separated;  each 
is  dependent  upon  the  other.  The  woman 
who  both  knows  and  loves  will  be  brave; 
and  she  that  hath  courage,  will  both  gain 
and  keep. 

Let  the  women  of  the  world  be  strong, 
be  wise,  be  loving,  and  the  world  will 
throw  open  the  doors  of  its  empty  jails 
and  asylums  and  proclaim  an  era  of  uni- 
versal health,  wealth  and  peace. 


A  REAL  PATERNITY 

CHAPTER    V 


E  shall  be  pretty  safe  in  as- 
suming that  with  soul  and 
body  working  in  perfect  har- 
mony, we  may  trust  with  se- 
curity to  our  natural  instincts. 
Then,  to  eat  solely  when  we 
are  hungry,  and  to  cease  eating  when  we 
are  satisfied,  to  drink  only  when  we  are 
thirsty,  and  in  such  manner  that  thirst  would 
be  speedily  quenched,  would  be  as  natural 
as  to  draw  breath.  Body  needs  and  mind 
knowledge,  soul  desires  and  bodily  expres- 
sion :  a  perfect  balance  implies  perfect  action. 
I  see  no  reason  for  excluding  from  this 
same  rule  the  question  of  sexual  needs.  On 
the  one  hand  the  strong  physical  craving, 
urging  possession  and  the  expression  of  its 
own  vehemence;  on  the  other,  the  as  pow- 
erful argument  of  the  rights  or  wishes  of 
another.  Harmony  between  the  two  will 
give  the  natural  and  legitimate  sexual  life. 
If,  therefore,  a  child  be  started  well,  be 
endowed  with  a  fine  physical  organism,  a 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  103 

clear,  healthy  mind,  and  the  courage  that 
is  the  glad  offspring  of  both,  he  may  be 
may  be  left  to  nature  without  misgiving. 
But  how  many  children  have  such  a  her- 
itage? Are  they  not  often  handicapped 
by  some  deadly  moral  deformity,  by  an 
inefficient  body,  or  both? 

Of  all  the  duties  that  confront  a  young 
man  in  the  early  years  of  his  maturity,  the 
one  least  considered  by  him  is  that  of 
judicious  fatherhood.  He  has  diligently 
studied  his  profession  or  business;  he  has 
looked  into  every  detail  and  considered 
each  with  a  due  regard  to  its  relative  im- 
portance; he  has  disciplined  his  mind  to 
follow  in  the  direction  called  for  by  his 
peculiar  line  of  work;  but  preparation 
for  fatherhood,  study  or  self-discipline  with 
respect  to  the  ushering  into  the  world  of 
a  new  being — these  are  things  to  which  he 
is  profoundly  indifferent. 

It  is  wholly  a  question  of  ignorance;  it 
is  not  conceivable  that  a  man  who  realized 
that  he  might,  if  he  chose,  make  of  his 
child  a  great,  wise  man  or  woman,  would 
deliberately  choose  that  it  should  be  con- 
stitutionally or  morally  imperfect. 

As  touched   upon  in    previous  chapters, 


104  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

the  wise  way  would  be  to  teach  every  boy 
and  girl  the  necessity  of  self-government 
in  the  interests  of  the  race.  The  story  of 
his  powers  and  possibilities  will  not  fall  up- 
on indifferent  ears;  and  a  grave  word  wise- 
ly spoken  to  the  impressionable  and  recep- 
tive mind  of  a  boy,  may  prove  the  pivot  on 
which  his  whole  after-life  shall  turn. 

It  is  surprising  that  in  so  important  a  mat- 
ter as  the  making  of  a  future  nation,  the 
State  has  been  satisfied  to  leave  so  much 
to  chance.  It  will  not  long  be  so.  The 
minds  of  men,  awakened  by  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  scientist,  will  realize  the 
necessity  for  action;  we  shall  have  schools 
of  instruction  for  parenthood,  as  we  have 
schools  for  the  other  and  surely  less  im- 
portant sciences;  and  an  intelligent  pa- 
ternity will  be  the  foundation  stone  of  a 
grander,  greater  national  edifice. 

The  question  of  initial  heredity  rests  large- 
ly with  the  man.  He  is  charged  to  be  care- 
ful that  his  child  be  conceived  at  a  time 
when  he  is  in  good  physical  health,  that 
his  mind  be  filled  with  images  of  beauty, 
not  permeated  with  the  thought  of  personal 
gratification.  A  feeling  of  strong  passionate 
devotion  to  his  wife,  and  a  desire  for  perfect 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  105 

union,  combined  with  the  mental  picture 
of  what  their  child  should  be  is  surely  the 
simple  natural  impulse;  and  could  the  union 
be  accomplished  at  a  time  when  the  hus- 
band was  engaged  upon  some  work  of  beauty 
or  strength,  some  particular  study  upon 
which  his  heart  was  set,  he  would  undoubt- 
edly convey  to  the  child  a  strong  intel- 
lectual bias  in  favor  of  his  own  life-work. 
This  form  of  heredity  is  responsible  for 
much  that  has  been  naturally  ascribed  to 
direct  heredity;  a  child  may  inherit  his  fath- 
er's tastes  and  intellectual  predilections  not 
so  much  from  the  fact  that  the  child's  brain 
resembles  the  father's,  and  that  therefore 
the  talents  are  likely  to  be  similar,  but  that 
at  the  time  of  the  child's  conception,  the 
mind  of  the  father  was,  necessarily,  perme- 
ated with  thoughts  of  the  work  upon  which 
he  was  engaged. 

A  most  interesting  series  of  experiments 
recently  made  by  scientists,  reveals  the  fact 
that  different  passions  produced  different 
effects  upon  the  saliva  and  perspiration; 
each  separate  passion,  anger,  jealousy  etc., 
by  chemical  analysis,  and  the  comparison 
of  resultant  color,  being  successfully  named 
by  the  experimentor.  If  these  outward  func- 


106 WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

tions  are  so  definitely  and  decidedly  influ- 
enced by  an  emotion,  how  much  more 
marked  must  it  be  the  case  with  reproduc- 
tion, the  most  delicate  and  essential  function 
in  man,  the  focus  of  his  nerves  and  nature? 

A  single  standard  of  morality  for  men 
and  women,  is  the  only  reasonable  and  legi- 
timate basis  of  ethics.  So  long  as  women 
submit  to  unfair  social  regulations,  and  a 
girl  brings  to  her  husband  the  first-fruits 
of  her  maiden  thought  and  innocence  with- 
out exacting  or  expecting  the  same  gift  from 
him,  so  long  will  young  men  to  whom  con- 
tinence is  undoubtedly  possible,  give  as  ex- 
cuse for  their  loose  conduct,  the  worn-out 
fable  of  a  man's  necessity. 

Let  us  admit  that  the  average  man's  pas- 
sion is  stronger  than  the  average  woman's, 
that  it  is  more  difficult  for  him  to  resist 
the  importunities  of  sex  impulses  and  emo- 
tions. He  has,  at  the  same  time,  if  he 
chooses  to  exercise  it,  a  stronger  power  of 
self-mastery  and  a  firmer  will.  While  heart- 
ily sympathizing  with  a  boy's  struggles  a- 
gainst  the  strange  new  temptations  that 
assail  him  from  within  his  own  being,  and 
realizing  that  these  are  temptations  by  which 
a  girl  is  less  likely  to  be  troubled,  we  yet 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  107 

must  believe  that  if  a  boy  has  had  his  po- 
tential fatherhood  wisely  explained  to  him, 
and  the  beauty  of  self-control,  with  its  far 
reaching  consequences,  definitely  suggested, 
he  may  with  safety  and  in  time  with  little 
struggle  keep  himself  as  pure  as  she.  When 
the  physicians  of  our  land  set  themselves 
to  tell  the  truth  to  our  young  men  instead 
of  the  pleasant  lies  that  have  done  duty  in 
the  past;  when  they  declare,  as  their  con- 
viction, that  the  sexual  act  is  necessary  for 
generation  only, and  is  not  essential  to  health, 
then  we  may  hope  for  an  era  of  clean  living 
and  wise  procreation. 

A  lad  of  seventeen  or  eighteen,  whose 
mother  had  instructed  him  wisely  in  sex 
matters,  visited  a  doctor  in  the  city  of  New 
York  with  a  boy  friend  who  desired 
advice  in  some  physical  difficulty,  and  both 
boys  were  surprised  and  dismayed  when 
the  doctor  suggested  sexual  intercourse  as 
remedy  for  the  trouble.  The  former  went 
at  once  to  his  mother  with  the  question: 
"Mother,  is  all  that  you  have  taught  me 
wrong?  Which  is  right,  you  or  the  doctor? 
Surely  a  physician  should  know  the  needs 
of  the  body  better  than  anyone  else,  yet 
he  says  this.  What  am  I  to  think?"  In 


108 WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

order  that  the  boy  should  not  feel  that  there 
was  but  one  medical  point  of  view,  the 
mother  promptly  sent  him  to  a  physician 
who  was  not  a  materialist,  nor  one  who 
would  carelessly  prescribe  an  immoral  act 
lor  physical  ill ;  who  explained  to  the  youth 
the  meaning  of  the  former  advice  and  its 
error;  who  pointed  out  the  excellence  of 
self-restraint  and  the  physiological  basis  for 
the  statement  that  purity  of  mind  and  the 
exercise  of  will-power,  mean  bodily  health 
as  well  as  mental  sanity.  Had  we  more 
such  physicians,  men  of  personal  habits  of 
temperance  and  purity,  of  intellectual  hon- 
esty and  moral  probity,  it  would  not  be  long 
before  the  brothel  would  become  the  resort 
only  of  the  obviously  depraved  and  intem- 
perate, and  scrofula  and  various  syphilitic 
disorders  be  no  longer  known  in  the  fam- 
ilies of  the  great  and  innocent.  The  immu- 
table law  that  the  sins  of  the  fathers  are 
"visited  upon  the  children  unto  the  third 
and  fourth  generation"  is  the  most  melan- 
choly aspect  of  the  whole  situation;  the 
sight  of  perfectly  pure  men  and  women 
incurably  diseased  or  constitutionally  en- 
feebled as  the  result  of  ignorant  or 
careless  self-indulgence  on  the  part  of  a 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  109 

parent  or  grandparent  emphasizes  in  awful 
intensity  the  words  of  the  great  teacher: 
"No  man  liveth  to  himself  and  no  man 
dieth  to  himself."  Many  a  young  man's 
prospects  and  happiness  have  been  ruined 
through  the  selfish  recklessness  of  an  an- 
cestor now  'a  bag  of  bones  in  a  coffin.'"* 

Personally  I  do  not  believe  that  any  young 
man  of  average  intelligence,  who  had  the 
facts  and  possibilities  put  before  him,  would 
deliberately  or  weakly  run  the  risk  of  hand- 
ing over  to  children  and  grandchildren  dis- 
ease, misery  and  premature  death.  It  is  a 
knowledge  of  physiology  that  our  young 
men  need,  not  religious  dogma;  a  study 
of  heredity,  not  alone  moral  precepts. 

The  secret  of  the  morality  of  a  young 
man's  life  lies  with  the  attitude  of  the  early 
days  of  adolescence;  as  his  thought  is 
shaped  then  so  will  his  after-life  be.  If, 
when  the  first  sex  impulses  begin  to  stir 
within  him,  he  realizes  their  import,  their 
greatness  and  dignity,  regards  himself  as  a 
treasure-house  of  possible  future  jewels; 
knows  that  the  finest  and  most  manly  thing 
that  he  can  do  is  to  keep  himself  pure  for 
the  woman  whom  he  will  one  day  honor 

*See  Dr.  Conan  Doyle's  "Round  the  Red  Lamp." 


IIO  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

above  all  others;  he  will  be  just  as  ready, 
just  as  able  to  keep  his  innocence  as  the 
girl-wife  who  is  somewhere  waiting  for 
him.  The  struggles  and  suffering  that  are 
so  often  spoken  of  as  incidental  to  a  young 
man's  life,  are  generally  unnecessary  and 
self-inflicted;  are  the  result,  in  the  majority 
of  cases,  of  roving,  licentious  thoughts,  or 
of  a  voluntary  yielding  to  the  lowest  in  his 
nature ;  they  are  not  the  result  of  natural  sex- 
importuning.  If  they  were,  where  would 
be  the  reason,  the  wisdom,  or  the  justice 
of  the  Creator's  plan  in  this  regard  ?  Con- 
tinous  tampering  with  a  lighted  fuse  can- 
not but  result  in  a  final  explosion;  a  young 
man  cannot  let  his  mind  dwell  on  sexual 
possibilities  and  then  expect  to  escape  the 
pain  of  wrestling  with  definite  temptation. 
This  alone  is  where  the  harm  of  physical 
restraint  would  come  in,  and  this  is  what 
physicians  mean  when  they  advocate  indul- 
gence; it  is  not  purity  that  harms,  but  un- 
satisfied mental  longings.  And  if  it  comes 
to  that,  rather  a  thousand  times  let  the  body 
sin  and  be  done  with  it,  than  leave  the  mind 
a  ghastly  prey  to  the  wild  beasts  of  unholy 
and  libidinous  impulse,  and  preserve  an  out- 
ward-seeming sanctity  at  the  cost  of  mental 
prostitution ! 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  III 

Health  is  what  we  want,  real  saneness 
and  soundness  in  the  young  fathers  of  our 
land,  the  purity  that  involves  the  most  ex- 
quisite sexual  pleasure  and  satisfaction  when 
maturity  and  love  call  it  forth;  that  will 
mean  to  the  object  of  devotion  a  continual 
source  of  happiness;  and,  above  all,  that  will 
give  to  the  blest  outcome  of  such  natural 
embraces  the  fine  courage,  the  tender  sen- 
sitiveness, the  clear  mentality,  the  noble 
masterfulness  that  will  make  them  the  men 
and  women  that  the  land  and  the  world 
craves. 

There  is  a  curious  lack  of  responsibility 
in  the  male  character  which  alone  can  ex- 
plain a  man's  recklessness  in  sexual  matters. 
Prompted  by  the  wild  caprice  of  the  mo- 
ment or  inflamed  by  wine,  a  man  will  enter 
a  house  of  prostitution,  and  for  the  sake  of 
a  few  moments  of  animal  pleasure,  take  the 
chances  of  disease  and  death,  a  wife's  ruined 
constitution,  and  an  infected  posterity.  A 
species  of  insanity,  surely;  a  boasted  civil- 
ization this  of  ours ;  truly  the  brain  of  a  sav- 
age with  its  elemental  instincts  would  be  a 
wiser  and  better  guide.  For  what  was  a 
man's  mind  given  him?  To  be  dulled  and 
besotted  into  looking  for  jewels  in  a  dung 


112  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

heap  ?  To  expect  to  find  in  the  sordid  em- 
brace of  a  harlot  that  which  can  only  come 
as  a  passionate  gift;  to  shut  away  the  gra- 
cious sunlight,  and,  grasping  at  the  tallow 
candle,  wonder  to  find  the  hands  foul  and 
the  house  in  darkness? 

Apart  from  the  moral  aspect  of  the  affair, 
there  is  absolutely  no  security  in  illicit  re- 
lationships: and  there  is,  as  I  have  said,  the 
most  real  retribution  perpetually  hanging, 
like  the  Damoclean  sword,  over  the  head 
of  the  man  who  has  once  laid  his  honor 
in  the  hands  of  a  prostitute. 

A  true  story  in  this  connection  may  point 
the  thought  more  definitely. 

A  young  man  and  woman  loving  each 
other  intensely  and  devotedly,  married,  and 
spent  some  ten  or  twelve  happy  months. 
They  were  suited  to  each  other  as  to  tastes 
and  disposition,  and  the  future  promised  well. 
At  last  the  baby  came,  and  when  she  was 
able  to  notice  it  carefully,  the  young  mother 
saw  that  something  was  wrong.  When  the 
doctor  came  to  pay  his  daily  visit,  she  said; 
"Doctor,  what  is  the  matter  with  my  baby?" 
The  doctor  did  not  immediately  answer,  but 
at  length  he  said :  "There  is  something  the 
matter;  I  will  tell  you  when  your  husband 


A    REAL    PATERNITY 113 

comes  in.''  The  young  father  appeared  pres- 
ently, and  the  doctor  gravely  stated  the 
case.  "The  condition  of  your  child  is  the 
result  of  what  is  commonly  known  as  a 
youthful  indiscretion  on  your  part."  The 
man  was  indignant,  and  full  of  emphatic 
abjurations.  He  had  been  "perfectly  pure 
for  years;  the  thing  was  monstrous,  impos- 
sible!" 

"I  am  perfectly  prepared  to  believe  you, 
my  lad,''  the  doctor  said,  "You  may  have 
been  pure  for  five  years,  or  ten  years,  or 
twenty  years,  but  at  some  time  or  other, 
perhaps  only  on  one  occasion,  you  gave  your 
body  to  a  passing  pleasure,"  here  the  doctor 
paused — the  man  nodded  assent,  "with  the 
consequence  that  your  child  will  never  see." 

Utterly  shocked  and  horrified,  the  wife 
would  listen  to  no  entreaties  or  explanations; 
she  left  her  home  and  refused  to  return. 
A  home  broken  up,  a  blind  child,  a  life's 
happiness  gone;  it  was  a  big  price  to  pay 
for  what  he  had  had.  A  moment's  fleeting 
pleasure  followed  by  the  inevitable  sense 
of  personal  degradation;  an  hour  of  weak 
sensuality;  a  commercial  transaction  con- 
taining none  of  the  satisfactions  of  acquisi- 
tion, none  of  the  sweets  of  possession. 


114  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

Although  the  definite  effects  of  evil-do- 
ing may  not  always  come  to  light  as  in  the 
above  case,  they  are,  none  the  less,  real 
and  lasting.  Many  a  strong  young  wife  has 
become  a  permanent  invalid  as  the  result 
of  previous  loose  living  on  the  part  of  her 
husband;  and  the  seeds  of  the  most  horrible 
diseases  have  been  passed  on  generation 
after  generation  ruining  the  lives  of  hun- 
dreds of  men  and  women.  Incurable  and 
deadly,  it  would  seem  that  the  risk  of  in- 
fection alone  would  make  this  revolting  dis- 
order a  thing  impossible  to  all  but  the  in- 
curably debased  and  depraved.  That  it  is 
not  so  only  goes  to  prove  incomprehensible 
ignorance  and  irresponsibility  on  the  part  of 
the  prospective  fathers  of  the  race. 

It  has  been  said  by  a  well-known  phys- 
ician of  the  City  of  New  York,  that  in  his 
medical  experience,  50  per  cent  of  the  sterile 
wives  in  his  practice  were  so  through  no 
fault  of  their  own,  but  because  of  disease 
contracted  through  and  a  result  of  previous 
evil  living  of  their  husbands. 

Charlotte  Perkins  Gilman  in  one  of  her 
books  suggests  that  if  men  could  be  per- 
suaded to  sow  their  wild  oats  in  the  autumn 
instead  of  the  spring  of  life,  it  would  be 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  115 

much  better  for  posterity;  then  the  resultant 
evil  would  be  upon  their  heads,  and  not 
upon  the  race  ! 

To  be  perfectly  just,  we  are  not  able  to 
exonerate  the  women  of  the  land  from  com- 
plicity in  this  evil.  Our  girls  labor  under 
the  delusion  that  a  man  is  an  invulnerable 
thing;  having  had  no  wise  instruction  in 
these  matters  from  their  delicate  and  lady- 
like mothers,  they  judge  of  a  youth's  feel- 
ings by  their  own,  and  recklessly,  and  un- 
thinkingly lead  him  into  temptation.  Wom- 
an's dress  at  the  present  day  in  its  fashionable 
form,  is  a  perpetual  menace  to  the  virtue  of 
young  men.  A  dress  that  cuts  a  woman's 
form  in  two,  that  outlines  and  accentuates 
the  bust  and  hips,  that  affects  concealment 
and  engenders  curiosity,  is  not  calculated 
to  aid  a  man  in  his  desire  to  reverence 
womanhood. 

An  opportunity  to  see  something  that  is 
forbidden,  a  prurient  curiosity  as  to  the  in- 
dividual proportions  of  a  woman,  especially 
if  she  be  young  or  beautiful;  these  are  the 
the  things  that,  whether  we  expect  them 
or  not  are  engendered  by  the  artificial  and 
senseless  mode  of  dressing  affected  by  our 
women. 


Il6  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

A  short  skirt,  long  gaiters,  and  a  stout 
pair  of  shoes  for  wet  weather,  with  no  at- 
tempt at  the  gathering  up  of  skirts,  no  sug- 
gestion of  concealment,  and  for  street  wear 
in  fair  weather  a  modified  edition  of  the 
same  costume,  and  we  should  have  at  least 
one  temptation  the  less  to  be  laid  to  the 
charge  of  women.  The  Princess  robe  is 
always  beautiful;  it  fulfils  the  requirements 
of  art  and  comfort;  it  has  been  experiment- 
ed with  and  found  to  answer  the  needs  of 
street  wear  as  well  as  being  very  beautiful 
for  home  costumes. 

When  will  women,  looking  to  the  good 
of  the  race  rather  than  to  their  own  vanity, 
actuated  by  a  healthy  sex-knowledge  and 
imbued  with  a  real  desire  for  mutual  help 
and  advancement,  refuse  to  submit  to  the 
dictum  of  a  senseless  fashion,  and  to  tie 
up  their  bodies  into  an  inane  and  unnatural 
incapacity;  determine  to  be  free,  to  be  true, 
to  be  powerful? 

When  a  girl  bares  her  beautiful  shoul- 
ders for  a  ball  she  does  not  realize  that  the 
sight  of  her  loveliness  will  affect  a  man  more 
than  the  decollette  dresses  of  her  friends  do 
her;  she  would  open  her  eyes  wide  with 
horror  if  she  knew  that  the  suggestion  of 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  I  17 

a  rounded  bosom  would  thrill  him  to  his 
inmost  depths;  would  perhaps  send  him  rest- 
less and  unsatisfied  to  find  in  the  unholy 
offerings  of  the  street  his  escape  from  an 
agony  of  desire.  Not  that  he  is  in  any  way 
justified;  but  where  it  lies  with  a  woman 
to  help  or  to  hinder,  to  uplift  or  to  degrade, 
surely  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  her 
ultimate  action. 

There  are  women — some  of  them  pass  as 
good  women — who  enter  a  ball-room  out- 
wardly beautiful  but,  in  reality,  birds  of 
prey.  If  their  victims  were  only  the  men 
who,  gazing  on  the  display  of  half-concealed 
loveliness,  allowed  daring  speeches  and  dar- 
ing looks,  are  driven  mad  with  passion,  the 
thing  would  be  less  hideous  than  it  is.  Our 
butterfly  smiles  to  herself  as  she  leans  back 
in  her  carriage  after  the  ball,  smiles  to  think 
how  she  has  moved  men,  has,  perhaps,  seen 
in  their  eyes  a  brightness  that  can  have  but 
one  meaning, — and  yet  has  given  nothing. 
Given  nothing! 

Thoughtless,  selfish,  criminal  woman,  she 
has  sold  those  of  her  own  sex,  she  has  fed 
her  vanity  on  the  youth  and  purity  of  her 
weaker  sisters;  for  the  man  she  left  is  no 
longer  responsible  for  his  actions.  With 


Il8 WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

her  witcheries  and  allurements,  her  entice- 
ments and  denials,  she  has  sent  him  forth 
a  ravening,  thirsting  creature,  and,  before 
the  dawn  of  a  new  day,  there  will  be  two 
more  sins,  ugly,  vulgar,  hateful  sins,  for 
which  a  delicately -nurtured  over-refined 
woman  is  undoubtedly  responsible. 

This  question  of  woman's  dress  is  a  seri- 
ous one,  as  every  thinking  man  knows;  I  am 
not  sure  that  the  Chinese  women,  dressed 
in  precisely  the  same  costumes  as  their  hus- 
bands, perfectly  modest  in  their  loose  bi- 
furcated garments  and  their  long  tunics, 
are  not  near  the  ideal  in  dress;  if  not  ideal, 
artistically,  certainly  ideal  in  the  matter  of 
the  sex-needs  of  the  race. 

In  the  question  of  handing  on  to  posterity 
a  pure,  high  mental  attitude  in  matters 
sexual  one  of  the  serious  difficulties  is  the 
low  standard  of  conversation  prevailing  a- 
mong  men  of  even  a  cultured  type.  Ob- 
scene jests,  and  funny  stories  wherein  the 
loose  conduct  of  women  plays  an  impor- 
tant part,  tales  of  light  love,  innuendo  and 
double  entendre;  these  and  such  as  these 
shock  the  sensitiveness  and  chivalry  of  the 
young  lad;  after  a  time  he  becomes  accus- 
tomed to  them,  and  finally,  the  mind  which 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  119 

once  contained  a  high  ideal  of  womanhood 
is  degraded  into  contemplating  seduction, 
infidelity  and  prostitution  without  tremor.  I 
am  persuaded  that  nine-tenths  of  the  moral 
torpidity  of  the  average  man  is  due  to  the 
licentious  conversation  which  he  hears  a- 
bout  him  and  in  which  he  indulges. 

The  ideals  of  many  men  with  regard  to 
sex-relationships  are  curious  and  interesting. 
There  is  one  class  which  holds  as  innocent 
all  intercourse  which  is  purely  commer- 
cial; he  has  certain  needs,  he  satisfies  them 
and  pays  for  it,  and  the  incident  is  closed; 
it  has  no  moral  significance.  But  to  seek 
sexual  satisfaction  in  his  own  rank  of  life 
would  be  a  social  crime,  and  indefensible. 

Another  class  holds  an  opposite  view,  that 
association  with  a  prostitute  is  vulgar  and 
unworthy  of  a  gentleman,  but  that  intimate 
relationship  with  a  woman  in  his  own  sta- 
tion, any  favors  conceded  by  a  friend,  are 
legitimate  and  honorable. 

Both  hold  one  highly  virtuous  position; 
the  seduction  of  a  virgin  is  impossible  to  a 
decent  man!  But  after  someone  else  has 
done  the  betraying,  after  a  girl  has  made 
one  misstep,  then  there  is  no  reason  why 
she  should  not  be  legitimate  prey;  a  girl 


I2O  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

once  violated  has  no  longer  any  claim  up- 
on their  chivalry,  makes  no  appeal  to  their 
tenderness  or  generosity. 

Whether  smoking  is  necessary  to  a  man 
if  he  has  not  made  himself  a  slave  to  the 
habit  is  a  question  that  is  easily  answered ; 
and  we  do  not  need  the  opinions  of  physi- 
cians to  convince  us  that  there  is  no  smoker 
who  would  not  be  healthier  or  more  of  a 
man  if  he  were  not  one.  What  is  the  first 
thing  a  physician  orders  when  a  sick  man 
goes  to  consult  him?  In  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  no  matter  what  the  ailment  may  be, 
he  says  "knock  off  smoking."  Through  the 
wide-spread  character  of  this  habit,  and  the 
fact  that  many  are  themselves  slaves  to  it, 
most  physicians  are  afraid  or  ashamed  open- 
ly to  say  what  they  know  in  this  regard; 
that  the  nicotine  absorbed  into  a  man's 
system,  a  poison  so  virulent  that  a  drop  will 
kill  a  dog,  not  only  is  often  the  cause  of 
degeneracy  in  offspring,  but  has  a  weaken- 
ing and  demoralizing  influence  upon  the 
wife  as  the  result  of  physical  union. 

Of  the  evil  of  continuous  tippling 
it  is  hardly  necessary  to  speak;  its  hurt- 
ful influence  and  its  far-reaching  results 
are  but  too  well  known.  Men  meet  after  a 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  121 

short  absence  and  they  must  visit  a  saloon 
and  drink  together;  they  wish  to  discuss  a 
business  proposition  and  they  must  have  a 
cocktail  to  assist  in  their  deliberations;  a 
piece  of  good  luck  comes  their  way,  and 
they  must  celebrate  it  in  champagne;  they 
are  in  hard  luck  and  must  cheer  themselves 
up  with  whiskey.  There  is  always  a  good 
excuse. 

I  am  not  a  temperance  crank,  but  when 
I  see  the  childish  and  absurd  behavior  of 
full-grown  men  in  this  regard  I  am  filled 
with  genuine  amazement. 

An  inherited  taste  for  alcoholic  stimulants 
is  one  of  the  strongest  enemies  a  young  boy 
can  have  to  fight;  and  the  nursing  mother, 
often  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  harm  she 
may  be  doing,  helps  on  the  work  of  the 
foe  by  "building  herself  up"  with  malt 
liquors  and  solacing  herself  with  brandy  egg- 
nogs. 

The  question  of  drinking  and  smoking 
fathers  for  the  children  of  tomorrow  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  young  women  of  today. 
It  is  certainly  unjust  to  scold  and  nag  a 
husband  for  bad  habits  which  have  been 
condoned  before  marriage,  even  supposing 
that  such  a  course  of  action  would  be  pro- 


122  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

ductive  of  good  results.  When  the  young 
men  of  the  day  know  that  the  best  and 
most  desirable  girls  will  not  tolerate  habits 
of  smoking  or  drinking  and  that  to  be  a  slave 
to  either  makes  them  objects  of  contempt- 
uous pity,  then  and  not  till  then  will  slavery 
to  tobacco  go  out  of  fashion  and  tippling 
at  all  hours  of  the  day  become  a  thing  of 
the  past. 

It  would  seem  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
all  things  supplied  by  Nature  are  for  our 
occasional  enjoyment  if  so  we  choose  to 
use  them:  there  are  many  products  besides 
tobacco  that  might  be  employed  at  inter- 
vals without  serious  harm,  but  which  when 
partaken  of  daily  or  hourly  are  a  menace 
to  health. 

If  temperance  in  these  various  indulgences 
could  be  exercised  we  should  have  little 
quarrel  with  them;  but  as  that  seems  im- 
possible we  are  perforce  driven  to  whole- 
sale condemnation. 

Many  a  husband,  through  carelessness, 
makes  the  grave  mistake  of  soiling  his  wife's 
mind  by  a  repetition  to  her  of  the  unclean 
anecdotes  which  he  has  heard  outside.  A 
man,  in  his  rough-and-tumble  life,  may, 
perhaps,  in  maturity  at  least,  be  able  to  hear 


A    REAL    PATERNITY  123 

these  things  if  not  with  impunity,  at  least 
without  serious  harm  to  his  moral  nature; 
but  grossness  and  libidinous  thought  are  so 
opposed  to  the  gracious,  sensitive  serenity 
of  the  feminine  mind  that  it  is  impossible 
for  her  to  listen  uncontaminated.  A  man 
who  tampers  in  this  way  with  the  innocence 
and  integrity  of  his  wife  must  accept  future 
unchasteness  and  infidelity  on  her  part  as 
his  just  recompense. 

A  man  cannot  transmit  to  his  offspring 
what  he  has  not  in  himself.  Principles  of 
truth,  honor,  purity,  robustness  of  thought, 
these  are  the  heritage  for  which  his  unborn 
posterity  cry  out  to  him.  Let  him  see  to 
it  that  the  appealing  eyes  of  his  little  child- 
ren are  not  filled  with  a  dumb  reproof. 


THE  PERFECT  BODY 


CHAPTER    VI 


NE  sees  a  strong,  massive, 
gem-encrusted  box,  a  thing 
evidently  formed  for  safety 
and  designed  in  beauty;  care- 
fully prepared,  an  excellently 
devised  receptacle;  the 
thought  which  follows  the  look  of  admir- 
ation is — what  does  it  contain?  We  scarcely 
need  to  speculate  on  the  value  of  the  con- 
tents; that  so  much  thought  and  care  have 
been  expended  on  the  case  which  protects 
it  proves  it  to  be  something  precious.  To 
conceive  of  the  box  as  a  mere  ornament, 
an  empty  thing  framed  only  to  please  the 
eye  would  be  an  insult  to  both  owner  and 
maker.  To  what  end  the  clever  workman- 
ship, the  beauty  of  shape,  the  signs  of  del- 
icate thought  and  manipulation?  We  real- 
ize that,  could  we  but  look  inside,  we  would 
know.  Within  is  a  wondrous  shining  jewel, 
a  thing  so  great,  so  rare,  that  the  fairest  of 
caskets  is  not  worthy  to  contain  it. 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  125 

Each  one  of  us  owns  a  jewel,  and  with 
each  it  is  the  spark  emanating  from  the 
Eternal,  the  thing  without  which  we  are 
not,  the  living  spirit  which  stamps  our  in- 
dividuality, which  shows  our  Divine  origin. 
Some  of  the  jewels  are  dim  and  lustreless; 
we  can  leave  them  to  become  tarnished 
and  damp,  dull  and  dingy,  or  we  can  care 
for  them  and  guard  them,  each  his  own 
jewel,  tenderly  and  untiringly  till  the 
thoughtful  looker-on  says:  "Surely  from 
the  brightness  and  beauty  of  this  glittering 
spark  I  can  begin  to  conceive  of  the  grand- 
eur of  the  parent  jewel."  The  question  of 
the  outer  covering  of  this  precious  thing, 
is  it  a  matter  of  indifference?  Surely  I 
would  think  not !  A  flimsy,  ill-made  box 
would  be  a  poor  casket  for  a  precious  gem. 

Though  useful  for  purposes  of  illustra- 
tion our  simile  is  inadequate;  in  its  earth- 
sojourn  the  spirit  has  such  an  intimate  re- 
lation with  the  body,  through  the  mind, 
which  according  as  it  is  used,  is  the  in- 
strument of  either,  that  no  word-picture  can 
present  a  suitable  counterpart. 

In  considering  the  treatment  of  the  body 
we  are  in  danger  of  falling  into  one  or 
other  of  two  pitfalls;  on  the  one  hand  an 


126 WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

elevation  of  the  physical  into  a  position 
which  it  is  not  intended  to  occupy,  a  think- 
ing of  the  body  as  of  the  real  individual, 
instead  of  as  merely  the  clothing,  the  outer 
covering  of  the  self  which  is  within;  or,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  disregard  of  the  physical 
man  and  a  neglect  of  its  proper  needs  as 
if  the  exaltation  of  the  body  were  a  disres- 
pect to  that  in  us  which  is  greater. 

That  a  middle  course  is  the  only  prac- 
tical one  for  every-day  use  is  apparent;  at 
the  same  time  we  cannot  but  realize  that 
where  a  great,  exceptional,  altruistic  work 
is  to  be  performed  denial  of  even  the  or- 
dinary demands  of  the  body  is  sometimes 
essential.  We  have  but  to  glance  at  the  life 
of  Jesus  to  see  that  he  realized  this  fully. 
He  did  not  find  fault  with  the  wedding,  or 
the  feasting  of  his  friends;  but  for  himself, 
as  the  periods  of  high  action  and  self-sac- 
rifice approached,  the  time  when  he  would 
be  called  upon  to  bear,  to  exhort,  to  lead, 
he  deemed  it  necessary  to  fortify  the  soul 
by  the  rigorous  denial  of  the  body. 

So  much  being  granted,  and  in  the  knowl- 
edge that  the  ordinary  routine  of  life  would 
call  for  normal,  sustainable  action,  we  look 
to  a  perfect  middle  course  as  the  most  prac- 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  127 

tical.  The  writer  will  never  forget  the  com- 
plete revolution  of  all  her  ideas  on  the  sub- 
ject effected  by  the  first  reading  of  Brown- 
ing's "Rabbi  Ben  Ezra.''  Previous  ideas  had, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  been  inherited  and 
educated  ones;  that  they  had  not  been  in- 
tuitional was  clearly  proven  in  the  moment 
when  Browning's  clear,  sane  thought  flashed, 
like  a  ray  of  sunlight,  over  the  unexplored 
forest  of  a  girl's  inner  life ;  gave  her  a  new 
and  wonderful  conception  of  the  uses  of 
the  flesh. 

Let  us  not  always  say 

"Spite  of  this  flesh  today 
I  strove,  made  head,  gained  ground    upon 
the  whole!" 

As  the  bird  wings  and  sings, 

Let  us  cry  "all  good  things 
Are  ours,  nor  soul  helps  flesh  more,  now, 
than  flesh  helps  soul!" 

Then  welcome  each  rebuff, 

That  turns  earth's  smoothness  rough, 
Each  sting  that  bids  nor  sit  nor  stand  but  go! 

Be  our  joy  three  parts  pain! 

Strive,  and  hold  cheap  the   strain; 
Learn,  nor  account  the   pang;  dare,  never 
grudge  the  throe. 


128  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

Then  shall  I  pass,  approved 
A  man  for  aye  removed 
From  the  developed  brute;  a  God  though 
in  the  germ." 

Then  "Saul";  the  two  poems  constituted 
a  new  revelation,  and  changed  the  whole 
aspect  of  life. 

The  requisite  for  bodily  perfection,  as  the 
requisite  of  any  perfection,  is  harmony.  The 
higher  self  and  the  bodily  expression  must 
be  in  accord.  Let  there  be  strife  between 
them  and  a  jarring  note  is  struck,  and  until 
there  is  an  attuning  there  can  be  no  real 
beauty. 

It  has  been  said,  and  with  some  justice, 
that  we  must  be  masters  of  our  bodies, 
not  slaves  to  them.  While  in  effect  this  is 
true,  for  we  realize  fully  that  a  man's  higher 
nature  is  enslaved  as  soon  as  he  feels 
bound  to  any  bodily  habit;  that  to  be  free 
he  must  be  able,  at  will,  to  take  a  pleasure 
or  to  leave  it,  to  be  happy  in  the  indulg- 
ence, or  in  the  abstinence;  we  cannot  but 
feel  that  the  terms  "master"  and  "slave" 
do  not  give  the  highest,  fullest  expression 
of  the  idea.  Harmony,  not  mastery  is  our 
thought;  it  was  this  idea  that  filled  Brown- 
ing's mind  when  he  said: 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  129 

"Thy  body  at  its  best 
How  far  can   that  project  thy  soul  on  its 

lone  way?" 
and: 

"Nor  soul  helps  flesh  more  now  than  flesh 
helps  soul." 

The  soul  advising  the  body,  the  body  sup- 
porting the  soul,  this  surely  is  the  highest 
ideal. 

Neglect  of  the  mind  and  soul  develop- 
ment will,  in  the  end,  make  of  the  body  a 
coarse,  unlovely  thing,  a  chromo  of  a  great 
painting,  a  plaster-of-paris  figure  smeared 
with  daubs  of  color  as  compared  with  Phid- 
ian  outlines  and  workmanship.  On  the  other 
hand,  neglect  of  the  body  results  in  disease, 
deformity,  and  impotence,  which  re-act  as 
surely  upon  mind  and  soul.  Let  us  once 
have  it  firmly  fixed  in  the  mind  that  this 
body  of  ours  is  to  be  developed,  not  disre- 
garded, cultivated,  not  emasculated,  and  we 
shall  take  a  more  healthy  interest  in  it  and 
in  its  functions. 

How  are  we  to  cultivate  a  perfect  body? 
Allowing  that  it  is  in  its  proper  place  in  re- 
lation to  the  mind,  under  normal  conditions, 
its  adequate  development  is  a  simple  thing 
and  one  that  lies  in  our  own  hands.  A  large 


130  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

amount  of  physical  exercise  is  absolutely 
essential.  Long  walks,  not  saunterings  in 
frbnt  of  shop  windows,  or  in  hot  shops,  not 
a  languishing  promenade,  but  a  quick  brisk 
energetic  motion,  the  speed  not  less  than  a 
mile  in  twenty  minutes.  The  step  should 
be  elastic,  the  body  erect,  and  the  chest  well 
elevated. 

The  complaints  of  round  shoulders,  hol- 
low chests,  doubts  as  to  whether  the  breath- 
ing is  correct  would  be  all  done  away  with 
if  people  would  keep  in  mind  the  elevation 
of  the  chest.  Never  mind  the  shoulders, 
never  mind  the  abdomen,  raise  the  chest  and 
the  other  parts  of  the  body  will  fall  naturally 
into  position.  We  do  not  need  to  trouble 
about  the  breathing  as  to  whether  it  be  ab- 
dominal or  from  the  chest;  to  raise  the  chest 
as  one  breathes  will  insure  the  breath  being 
properly  drawn.  We  do  not  breathe  half 
enough  for  health;  voluntary  breathing 
should  be  as  much  a  part  of  our  daily  duties 
as  our  bathing  or  brushing.  Twice  a  day 
one  should  stand  in  a  place  where  the  best 
air  is  procurable  and  expelling  from  the 
lungs  all  that  it  contains,  should  draw  in 
(through  the  nostrils,  not  the  mouth)  full, 
deep  inspirations.  The  breath  should  be  held 
while  one  could  count  twenty  and  then  ex- 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  131 

polled  through  the  lips.  This  should  be  re- 
peated at  will  after  the  first  few  days  when 
the  dizziness  consequent  upon  the  new  effort 
has  worn  away;  it  is  of  no  use  to  try  to  do 
too  much  at  first.  In  walking,  it  is  of  great 
use  to  draw  deep  inspirations,  and  if  by  the 
seashore,  or  on  the  mountains,  such  exercise 
will  be  wonderfully  invigorating.  People 
talk  a  great  deal  about  "good  air"  and  "bad 
air,"  of  needing  "change  of  air,"  of  the  "fine 
air"  of  this  or  that  locality.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  the  finest  air  procurable  is  wasted 
upon  the  individual  who  does  not  know  how 
properly  to  use  it.  It  is  better  to  live  in 
bad  air  and  to  breathe  it  vigorously  ,and  vol- 
untarily than  to  live  in  the  most  invigorating 
atmosphere  with  "lazy  lungs.''  This  sounds 
radical,  but  the  statement  will,  I  think,  be 
borne  out  by  the  testimony  of  any  specialist 
in  lung  diseases. 

The  head  should  be  held  erect  and  grand- 
ly in  walking,  with  the  feeling  that  in  us  are 
infinite  possibilities;  a  feeling  that  we  own 
the  world,  as  indeed  we  do,  if  we  look  up- 
on it  rightly.  We  need  not  expect  good 
to  result  from  our  exercise  if  we  are  har- 
boring unhappy,  fearful,  or  angry  thoughts. 
If  any  such  are  with  us  when  we  start,  we 
must  cast  them  to  the  winds  as  we  go.  This 


WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 


is  an  interesting  point,  as  illustrative  of  the 
interdependence  of  soul  and  body.  Let  one 
try  to  act  without  or  in  disagreement  with 
the  other  and  the  result  can  only  be  a  disson- 
ance from  which  both  must  suffer.  We  can- 
not enter  at  any  great  length  into  the  ques- 
tion of  the  different  methods  of  physical 
exercise.  Over-exertion,  while  hurtful  to 
all,  is  particularly  injurious  to  women,  with 
whom  the  delicate  organs  of  reproduction 
require  a  special  care.  To  lift  heavy  weights 
is  a  species  of  physical  foolishness;  no  wo- 
man who  values  the  proper  condition  of  the 
internal  organs  will  subject  them  to  so  se- 
vere a  strain.  Not  that  a  woman  must  of 
necessity  be  frail  because  she  is  a  woman  ; 
within  reasonable  limits  she  is  as  strong  as 
her  brother,  and  were  we  living  in  a  state 
of  hygienic,  though  unrefined,  savagery,  we 
should  not  have  to  consider  her  physical 
comfort  more  than  his.  A  sedentary  life, 
improper  food,  absurd  and  unsuitable  dress, 
have  contributed  to  make  the  average  girl 
unfitted  for  strenuous  labor  either  physical 
or  mental;  and  until  we  return  to  the  state 
of  nature  that  our  physical  bodies  need,  we 
shall  have  to  be  contented  with  delicate 
women  and  impoverished  offspring.  But,  in 
Heaven's  name,  let  us  do  the  best  we  can. 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  133 

Let  us  give  the  girl  the  same  consideration 
in  the  matter  of  physical  exercise  as  the  boy. 
The  same  mental  effort  is  required  of  her 
in  school,  let  us  give  her  the  necessary  phys- 
ical balance,  a  reasonable  outlet  for  her  often 
overtaxed  brain  and  overwrought  imagina- 
tion. 

There  is  no  inherent  mental  difference  be- 
tween the  sexes;  there  is,  therefore,  no  real 
reason  for  educating  the  boy  and  girl  dif- 
ferently. We  feed  the  girl  according  to  our 
present  public  school  system  on  the  same 
mental  pabulum  and  expect  equally  good 
results;  the  same  should  be  true  of  physical 
powers.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  explain 
that  we  do  not  advocate  sending  a  delicate- 
ly-nurtured girl-child  to  play  foot-ball  with 
boys.  Foot-ball  is  a  brutal  game  at  best,  and 
the  results  claimed  for  it  would  not  seem 
to  justify  its  existence.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  our  girls  were  brought  up  from  baby- 
hood as  are  our  boys,  were  allowed  to  climb, 
and  jump,  and  run,  as  boys  are  encouraged 
to  do,  there  would  be  no  so-called  boys' 
sport  that  is  truly  beneficial  in  which  she 
might  not  indulge  with  much  resultant  good 
to  herself  and  to  the  race. 

For  summer  exercise  there  is  nothing  so 
beneficial  as  swimming,  it  broadens  the 


134 WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

chest,  strengthens  the  muscles  of  the  entire 
body,  vitalizes  the  nervous  system,  teaches 
courage  and  self-reliance.  Girls  should  be 
taught  to  swim  as  soon  as  they  have  over- 
come their  first  timidity  in  the  water;  a  brave 
child  should  swim  well  at  ten  years  of  age. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  warn  mothers  that 
there  should  be  no  forcing  in  the  matter; 
a  nervous  child  should  be  judiciously  and 
gradually  taught,  and  no  lessons  should  be 
given,  in  such  a  case,  in  any  but  shallow 
and  quiet  water.  The  writer,  at  eleven  years 
of  age,  having  been  shown  the  required 
positions  and  strokes,  was  lowered  from 
a  pier  at  high  tide  and  left  to  shift  for  her- 
self; it  took  about  twenty  seconds  to  teach 
her  to  swim,  under  these  circumstances. 
This  method  is  not  recommended,  however, 
unless  the  child  is  fearless,  and  robust,  and 
has  a  healthy  pride  in  her  physical  prowess. 

In  providing  for  our  physical  perfection 
Nature  did  not  contemplate  a  sedentary  life ; 
we  must  have  outdoor  air,  and  plenty  of  it, 
day  and  night,  if  we  are  to  be  well. 

Why  are  so  many  people  afraid  of  air? 
One  of  the  greatest  foes  to  the  peace  of 
mind  of  men  and  women  is  a  mentally- 
constructed  bogie  of  the  most  harmless 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  135 

description;  I  refer  to  "draughts."'  God's 
fresh  air,  a  thing  that  never  yet  harmed  any- 
body. The  statement  can  be  made  without 
fear  of  criticism  that  no  amount  of  fresh 
air  ever  hurt  anybody  who  was  in  a  perfectly 
healthy  condition. 

If  the  body  is  in  an  unhealthy  condition 
let  us  make  it  healthy,  not  shut  away  from 
ourselves  the  greatest  giver  of  health.  What 
is  done  with  consumptive  patients  now- 
a-days?  They  are  kept  in  the  open  air  all 
day,  rain  or  shine.  Are  we  willing  to  wait 
to  be  consumptive  before  we  take  advan- 
tage of  the  beneficent  qualities  of  the  air 
that  is  all  about  us  waiting  to  be  used? 
Why  is  it  that  so  many  bedroom  windows 
are  closed  at  night,  and  the  occupants  com- 
plain of  feverish  dreams,  chills,  and  head- 
ache, and  pity  themselves  as  victims  of 
some  sad  dispensation  of  Providence?  The 
merest  child  who  is  adequately  taught  can 
tell  us  that  the  carbonic  acid  gas  emanating 
from  the  lungs  is  deadly  poison;  and  yet 
otherwise  sensible  people  will  sleep  night 
after  night  breathing  over  and  over  again 
vitiated  and  poisonous  air,  with  all  the  pure 
outside  ozone  waiting  to  pour  itself  in,  and 
cleanse  and  purify  and  vivify  the  atmos- 
phere. 


136  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

One  reason  for  the  "colds"  which  are  the 
excuse  for  this  baleful  and  unnecessary  fear 
of  draughts  is  the  excessive  amount  of  cloth- 
ing worn  by  both  men  and  women.  In  win- 
ter our  houses  are  heated  to  summer  tem- 
perature; we  think  it  necessary,  however, 
to  cover  ourselves  with  flannel  from  neck 
to  ankle;  our  all-wool  underwear  is  a  part 
of  our  religion  from  November  till  May. 

What  is  the  consequence?  We  become 
morbidly  sensitive  to  the  outside  cold;  the 
body  perspires,  and  the  wool  retains  the 
moisture;  we  take  cold  and  blame  anything 
except  the  all-wool  garment  which  is  re- 
sponsible. 

If  a  women  subject  to  colds  in  the  winter 
will  wear  the  same  undergarments  at  that 
season  that  she  does  in  the  summer,  putting 
on  a  warm  coat  when  she  goes  out,  and 
bloomers  if  she  thinks  it  necessary,  she  will 
not, — unless,  indeed,  she  overeats,  or  com- 
mits similar  acts  of  folly — be  troubled  by 
"colds." 

The  body  needs  the  air,  and  needs  it  just 
as  close  to  it  as  possible. 

If  there  is  one  part  of  the  body  that  is 
weak  or  poorly  developed  that  is  the  part 
requiring  most  attention.  The  temptation 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  137 

to  a  boy  is  to  develop  his  muscles  at  the 
expense  of  grace  and  even  of  health;  the 
muscle-bound  pugilist  is  not  a  beautiful 
thing,  yet  the  average  boy  has,  in  the  matter 
of  development,  some  such  example  before 
him.  Wise  advice  on  this  point,  as  on  all 
points  pertaining  to  the  education  of  a  child, 
devolves  upon  the  parent,  who,  it  is  taken 
for  granted,  has  made  himself  familiar  with 
the  necessary  detail. 

It  is  essential  that  children  be  taught  by 
early  example  the  importance  of  the  daily 
bath.  It  is  astonishing  to  note  in  how  many 
homes  the  bath  is  overlooked  or  deemed  un- 
necessary except  at  weekly  intervals. 

The  writer  is  acquainted  with  a  wealthy 
and  refined  mother  in  New  York  City,  whose 
son  of  thirteen  goes  from  Saturday  to  Sat- 
urday without  any  washing  except  a  dab  at 
the  face  and  a  hasty  rinsing  of  the  hands. 
And  the  interval  has  been  known  to  length- 
en to  two  and  even  to  three  weeks  and  the 
boy  remain  unwashed. 

Children  are  careless  in  these  matters,  and 
need  supervision,  but  the  unbathed  condi- 
tion is  not  confined  to  children.  Many  ap- 
parently fastidious  women  seem  utterly  un- 
conscious of  their  error  in  the  matter  of  the 


138  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

neglect  of  the  daily  bath,  and  handsome 
gowns  often  cover  a  neglected  skin. 

No  man  or  woman  can  be  wholesome, 
sweet  and  cleanly  who  does  not  bathe  the 
entire  surface  of  the  body  once  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  Distrust  the  cleanliness  of  the 
person  who  is  redolent  of  perfume;  in  oc- 
casional instances  it  may  indicate  simply  a 
barbaric  love  of  scents,  but  in  the  majority 
of  cases  it  is  evidence  of  a  consciousness 
of  lack  of  personal  sweetness.  Were  the 
writer  a  power  in  the  legislature  she  would 
use  hei  efforts  to  make  a  persistently  un- 
cleanly body  and  a  foul  breath  sufficient 
grounds  for  divorce.  Both  these  disgusting 
conditions  being  entirely  unnecessary  and 
the  result  of  unpardonable  negligence  should 
be  in  this  way  discountenanced  and  disal- 
lowed by  a  health-loving  and  understand- 
ing Society. 

The  sexually  normal  and  wholesomely- 
kept  body  gives  forth  a  sweet  and  subtle 
fragrance,  a  delicate  odor  peculiar  to  the 
individual  and  delightful  to  the  lover.  No 
sensitive  and  appreciative  lover  of  beauty 
will  be  foolish  enough  to  destroy  this  charm- 
ing personal  perfume  by  the  use  of  any 
foreign  odor,  however  sweet. 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  139 

A  tablespoon ful  of  aromatic  vinegar  or 
some  similar  tonic  used  in  the  bath  is  re- 
freshing after  a  journey;  and  a  delicately 
scented  sachet  among  the  gloves  or  hand- 
kerchiefs is  not  to  be  interdicted,  if  desired; 
but  the  use  of  strong  scents  upon  the  per- 
son or  the  gown,  and  the  habit  of  sewing 
sachet-bags  inside  the  dress  is  forbidden  not 
only  by  good  taste  but  by  a  knowledge  of 
what  is  due  to  the  natural  beauty  and  sweet- 
ness of  the  human  body. 

The  practice  of  wearing  corsets  is  harm- 
ful and  unnecessary;  Nature  never  con- 
templated any  such  constriction  of  the  most 
important  part  of  a  woman's  body;  and  Art, 
in  all  ages  and  climes,  has  shown  the  fallacy 
of  the  contention  that  a  small  waist  is  a 
beautiful  thing;  it  maybe  that  when  woman 
finds  that  her  natural  figure  is  as  satisfact- 
ory to  her  as  to  the  God  who  made  it,  and 
she  has  enough  backbone  of  her  own  with- 
out depending  upon  artificial  support  the 
day  of  her  mental  and  political  emancipa- 
tion will  speedily  dawn. 

In  the  interests  of  .health  I  would  that 
men  would  for  a  certain  length  of  time  tie 
themselves  into  corsets  such  as  are  worn 
by  sisters  and  wives.  How  fit  these  men 


140  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

would  find  themselves  to  perform  their  or- 
dinary tasks  one  can  easily  imagine!  How 
sweet  their  tempers,  and  how  happy  and 
cheerful  their  dispositions  one  could  pro- 
nounce upon  with  tolerable  iaccuracy.  It 
may  be  urged  that  woman's  duties  are  dif- 
ferent. What  about  the  stenographers,  the 
typewriters,  the  book-keepers,  the  telegraph- 
ers, the  saleswomen?  And  there  is  perhaps 
less  resultant  evil  from  confinement  and  re- 
striction of  the  body  in  these  methods  of 
employment  than  in  the  case  of  domestic 
work.  It  would  be  far  less  harmful  to  a  man 
to  tie  himself  up  in  a  tight  corset  or  to  top- 
ple about  on  high-heeled  shoes  than  it  is 
for  a  woman.  He  would  not,  of  course, 
make  himself  ridiculous  in  this  manner;  I 
would  to  Heaven  he  would,  for  a  space, 
if,  by  so  doing,  and  through  his  efforts,  it 
would  leave  free  and  unconstrained  the  deli- 
cate, wonderful  reproductive  organs  of  the 
mothers  and  future  mothers  of  the  race! 
There  is  yet  to  be  advanced  one  good, 
physiological  or  social  reason  for  wearing 
a  corset.  Of  course  no  woman  will  ever 
admit  that  her  corset  is  tight;  she  will  draw 
herself  in  and  let  you  put  your  hand  be- 
tween her  corset  and  her  body  to  prove 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  14! 

your  accusation  is  false;  but  who  has  ever 
found  one  woman  who  would  or  could  in- 
flate her  lungs  to  their  fullest  extent  in  a 
corset?  If  the  custom  were  a  beautiful  one  it 
might  be  understood,  but  there  is  no  model 
of  beauty  either  ancient  or  modern  whose 
lines  approach  those  of  the  fashion-plate 
woman.  When  will  women  be  great  enough 
to  despise  the  senseless  dictum  of  an  idle 
plutocracy,  and  live  a  life  close  to  nature? 
It  is  possible  to  forego  corsets  and  yet 
not  look  like  "a  bag  tied  round  in  the  middle'' 
as  one  woman  expressed  it.  The  dividing 
line  of  the  waist  is  an  inartistic  thing  at  the 
best;  women  are  not  made  in  two  pieces 
and  it  is  not  worth  while  to  simulate  such 
an  extravagance  of  mechanism. 

It  is  contended  that  the  fat  that  accumu- 
lates about  the  waist  in  advancing  years 
renders  a  corset  necessary,  and  we  must  ad- 
mit that  the  result  of  an  immediate  change 
to  an  uncorseted  figure  would  mean  in  many 
cases  an  offence  to  the  artistic  eye.  Our 
assertion  is,  however,  that  flabbiness  of  the 
muscles  is  the  inevitable  result  of  their  un- 
used condition;  if  the  body  were  left  free 
and  the  waist-muscles  exercised  daily  there 
would  no  fatty  deposit. to  be  complained  of. 


142  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

It  goes  without  saying  that  insufficient  ex- 
ercise and  over-feeding  will  produce  un- 
beautiful  results  in  excessive  adipose  tissue. 
No  woman  who  cares  for  her  beauty  will 
sin  against  Nature  in  this  manner. 

Take  away  the  corsets,  the  pads  and  fal- 
sities and  women  will  live  rationally  for 
very  pride. 

The  nervous  tissues  of  the  body  need  a 
generous  and  continuous  supply  of  oxygen- 
ated blood  to  successfully  perform  their 
work;  they  form  carbonic  acid  and  this  is 
only  removed  by  the  venous  blood  which 
carries  it  to  the  lungs  for  purification.  Tight 
lacing  interferes  with  and  prevents  the  re- 
turn of  the  venous  blood  from  the  lower 
limbs  and  the  abdomen,  and  the  result  is 
easily  seen.  Through  corset-wearing  the  ab- 
dominal organs  are  pressed  downward  and 
falling  of  the  womb  is  the  consequence; 
the  liver  is  compressed,  the  lungs  are  not 
given  free  play,  and  the  health  is  thus  grad- 
ually deteriorated  by  imperfect  aeration  of 
the  blood.  Were  this  simply  a  feminine 
folly,  we  might  pass  it  by,  it  is  more;  it 
strikes  at  the  vitality  and  health  of  the  race. 

To  the  constricting  corset  may  be  due 
much  of  the  unnecessary  suffering  which 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  143 

is  usual  with  our  highly-strung  nervous 
women  during  the  menstrual  period.  It  is 
regrettable  that  as  the  race  becomes  more 
delicately  organized  our  women  become 
more  and  more  troubled  through  what  was 
not  intended  by  Nature  to  be  painful  or  un- 
comfortable. By  observing  the  healthy  peas- 
ant women  of  various  countries,  and  learning 
from  them  that  this  condition  requires  no 
change  in  the  clothing  or  alteration  in  the 
habits,  we  find  that  it  is  only  with  our  over- 
civilized  selves  that  menstruation  is  an  im- 
portant occurrance.  Nature  evidently  in- 
tended the  periodic  change  as  simply  an 
indication  of  a  condition,  as  is  the  case  with 
the  lower  animals.  To  our  cost  we  know 
that  in  the  American  home  the  female 
members  of  it  suffer  more  or  less  intensely 
for  several  days,  and  the  duration  of  the 
condition  is  from  four  to  seven  days,  with 
excessive  flowing.  I  cannot  but  believe  that 
this  deplorable  condition  is  in  a  measure 
due  to  the  unfounded  fears  of  ignorant  pub- 
erty and  to  the  false  suggestions  given  our 
girls  when  they  first  bud  into  womanhood. 
The  condition  itself  is  given  too  much  prom- 
inence in  the  mind  of  the  child,  while  too 
little  stress  is  laid  upon  its  purpose  and 


144  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

prophecy.  If  the  condition  be  regarded,  as, 
unfortunately,  it  is  by  most  women,  as  a 
tiresome,  unpleasant  and  painful  dispensa- 
tion of  Providence,  its  occurrance  is  likely 
to  bring  with  it  the  pain  and  discomfort  that 
such  expectations  engender.  If  it  be  pre- 
sented to  the  child  as  the  indication  of  her 
capacity  for  motherhood,  as  showing  that 
the  bud  of  child  life  is  now  preparing  to 
burst  into  the  blossom  of  womanhood,  that 
her  life  now  means  more,  holds  more,  prom- 
ises more;  that  the  beautiful  power  of  ma- 
ternity is  latent  there  and  will  make  her 
able  to  understand  more  clearly  our  own 
brooding  care  for  her  as  the  offspring  of 
our  own  body;  if  thoughts  like  these  were 
given  a  girl  from  the  beginning  it  would 
have  a  very  definite  effect  upon  menstrual 
conditions.  There  are  also  many  old-wives' 
tales  and  legends,  utterly  without  founda- 
tion in  scientific  fact,  which  sow  seeds  of 
fear  in  the  girl's  mind  and  serve  to  destroy 
her  comfort. 

For  example,  there  is  a  widely-received 
fiction  that  a  bath  at  this  time  would  be 
perilous  to  the  health.  Nothing  is  further 
from  the  truth.  For  obvious  reasons,  a  very 
hot  or  very  cold  bath  would  be  inadvisable, 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  145 

being  stimulating  or  too  much  of  a  shock; 
but  a  tepid  bath  at  such  a  time  not  only 
will  do  no  harm  but  will  be  found  most 
beneficial.  If  the  body  should  crave  a  warm 
bath  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not 
be  enjoyed. 

Nature  never  intended  the  prolongation 
of  the  condition  that  obtains  today  among 
our  delicately -reared  women;  three  or 
four  days  should  be  the  limit  of  its  con- 
tinuance ;  it  is  pitiable  that  so  many  of  our 
young  women  should  lose  one  week  out  of 
every  four  for  all  pleasurable  and  happy 
purposes. 

Without  doubt,  overstrain  during  the  ado- 
lescent period  is  largely  responsible  for  this 
unsatisfactory  condition.  When  a  girl  first 
shows  indication  of  approaching  woman- 
hood she  is  usually  just  entering  high-school. 
She  is  ambitious  to  excel  in  school  work 
and  her  mother  is  ambitious  for  her.  Just 
at  a  time  when  she  needs  more  out-door 
exercise  she  has  less,  when  she  needs  more 
sleep  she  is  sitting  up  late  studying  her  more 
difficult  lessons;  when  she  needs  healthy 
romance  she  is,  in  many  cases,  allowed  to 
read  sensational  literature  when  she  has  a 
spare  half-hour  from  her  studies,  or  to  at- 


146 WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

tend  equally  disturbing  and  unwholesome 
plays.  It  is  altogether  inexplicable  on  any 
assumption  save  that  of  absolute  careless- 
ness or  ignorance  on  the  part  of  parents 
that  young  impressionable  girls  should  be 
allowed  to  witness  the  unreal  and  undesir- 
able representations  of  life  to  which  they 
flock  on  Saturday  afternoons.  One  has  only 
to  select  the  most  objectionable  play  that 
is  appearing  and  stand  outside  the  theatre 
at  a  little  before  two  o'clock  on  Saturday 
afternoon  to  realize  that  unprotected  girl- 
hood is  not  confined  to  the  slums  of  our 
cities. 

Ambitious  mothers  and  brilliant  daught- 
ers combine  to  harm  the  sensitive  body 
with  its  delicate  nerve-centres  and  its  highly- 
organized  emotions.  The  expectation  of  an 
early  graduation  spurs  the  girl  on  to  further 
effort  and  her  strength  is  over-taxed  before 
she  is  aware  of  it.  What  matter,  O  foolish 
mother,  whether  your  girl  graduates  at  sev- 
enteen or  at  twenty?  It  makes  little  dif- 
ference whether  the  coveted  diploma  is 
gained  in  one  year  or  another — in  a  year  or 
two  no  one  will  be  the  wiser, — but  it  will 
matter  to  her  all  her  life  long  if,  at  a  mar- 
riageable age,  she  is  pallid,  nervous  and 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  147 

ansemic.  The  school  curriculum  should  be 
planned  for  the  child,  not  the  child  for  the 
curriculum;  and  as  soon  as  parents  realize 
and  protest  against  the  over-study  in  the 
high-school  which  is  so  lamentable  an  ac- 
companiment of  our  present  school  system 
so  soon  will  the  needed  reform  be  insti- 
tuted. Our  children's  education  is  a  means 
to  an  end,  and  that  end,  so  far  as  our  girls 
are  concerned,  is  that  they  shall  be  healthy, 
sensible,  intelligent  women,  ready  to  take 
their  part,  if  need  be,  among  the  workers 
of  the  world,  or,  better  still,  to  be  wise  wives 
and  clever  mothers,  with  a  good  sound  men- 
tal training  to  beautify  and  perfect  a  strong, 
sweet,  capable  body. 

One  would  suppose  that  although  women 
might,  from  a  vain  notion  of  the  require- 
ments of  beauty,  disfigure  their  waists  in 
early  youth,  they  would  discard  the  thing 
that  restricted  and  oppressed  when  the 
duty  of  maternity  confronted  them.  So  far 
from  this  being  the  case,  a  large  number 
of  women,  with  a  false  modesty  that  does 
little  credit  either  to  their  good  sense  or 
their  early  training,  endeavor  to  conceal  the 
fact  of  their  condition  through  the  valued 
agency  of  the  corset.  It  would  seem  that 


148  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

the  most  elementary  ideas  of  physiology 
would  suggest  allowing  Nature  all  the  space 
possible  in  which  to  perform  her  exquisite 
and  delicate  task;  and  we  can  only  hope 
that  with  the  new  knowledge  that  is  com- 
ing to  us  of  the  infinite  possibilities  of  the 
future  race,  the  eyes  of  our  women  may  be 
opened  to  see  their  duty  in  this  as  in  other 
important  matters. 

A  pretty  and  graceful  woman,  an  accom- 
plished vocalist,  married  a  musician,  a  charm- 
ing man  and  an  inspired  genius.  Their  life 
together  bid  fair  to  be  an  ideal  one;  they 
had  youth,  health,  love,  a  community  of  in- 
terests, all  that  is  needed  to  make  life  beau- 
tiful. Ten  or  twelve  months  after  their 
marriage  I  met  the  wife  at  a  concert.  A 

friend  said:    "Do  you  know  that  Mrs. 

is  going  to  have  a  baby  very  soon  ?"  "Surely 
not"  I  said :  "look  at  her  figure."  "It  is  so, 
I  am  sure,"  returned  the  friend;  "her  sister 
told  me;  but  she  doesn't  want  people  to 
know  it."  I  turned  away  impatiently.  A 
few  weeks  later  we  heard  the  news  of  a 
double  death,  the  mother  and  the  still-born 
child;  a  death  entirely  due,  the  attending 
physician  said,  to  the  tight-lacing  of  the 
mother. 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  149 

A  life  of  rare  expectation  cut  short  at 
the  age  of  twenty-five! 

The  artist  husband,  within  a  few  years, 
married  a  woman  with,  perhaps,  fewer  gifts, 
but  more  common-sense;  and  they  are  at 
present  enjoying  life  surrounded  by  a  happy 
young  family.  This  last  act  in  the  story  is 
given  not  with  any  desire  to  exult  over  the 
inconstancy  of  a  man,  but  in  the  hope  that 
the  bare,  brutal  fact  may  prevent  similar 
stupidity  on  the  part  of  some  other  young 
woman. 

This  woman  deliberately  threw  away  her 
life,  and  gave  to  another  woman,  by  her 
own  act,  the  happiness  of  bearing  children 
to  the  man  of  her  heart. 

Physically  speaking,  the  food  which  we 
put  into  our  bodies  determines  the  character 
of  these  bodies,  and  we  may  go  further, 
and  say  that  it  also  determines  largely  our 
mental  and  moral  conditions. 

Fat-soaked,  soggy  food  is  not  conducive 
to  mental  sanity,  nor  can  we  expect  a  whole- 
some view  of  life  from  the  dyspeptic.  A 
whole  household  has  been  demoralized  as 
the  result  of  a  badly-cooked  meal,  and  a 
prisoner's  fate,  hanging  in  the  balance,  has 
been  adversely  decided  because  the  Judge's 


150  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

cook  had  given  him  a  bad  dinner.  Prayers 
for  moral  rectitude,  and  an  utter  ignorance 
of  dietetics  are  an  illogical  and  absurd  com- 
bination. To  pray:  "make  me  a  clean  heart," 
and  then  fill  the  body  with  rubbish  is  a 
waste  of  words  and  fervor. 

We  have  two  bodies  of  thinkers  on  this 
subject,  one  exclaiming:  "Let  the  mind  be 
pure  and  wholesome  and  the  body's  safety  is 
assured,"  and  the  other:  "Keep  the  body  in 
good  order  and  the  soul  will  take  care  of 
itself."  Either  view  is  right  so  far  as  it 
goes,  but  the  truth  is  only  to  be  found  in 
the  acceptance  of  both.  The  mind  to  think 
for  the  body,  the  body  to  work  for  the  mind, 
only  so  can  we  have  the  balance  which  is 
perfection. 

The  day  of  the  white,  over-refined  flour 
is  rapidly  passing  away,  and  the  world  has 
become  aware  that  for  bread  to  be  properly 
nourishing  it  must  be  made  of  wheat  that 
has  not  been  robbed  of  the  gluten  which 
is  necessary  to  the  building  up  of  the  phys- 
ical frame.  The  most  satisfactory  bread  is 
made  from  the  flour  of  the  entire  wheat 
kernel ;  flour  which  has  not  undergone  the 
usual  process  of  over-refining;  the  whole- 
wheat flour,  as  it  is  sometimes  called.  The 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  151 

white  flour,  to  which  people  have  become 
accustomed,  has  been  robbed  of  its  phos- 
phates and  nutritive  salts  in  order  to  make 
it  of  white  color;  the  starch,  of  which  we 
have  already  too  much  in  our  food,  is  left 
in  the  flour,  and  the  nitrogenous  elements 
are  eliminated. 

Without  going  deeply  into  the  question  of 
vegetarianism  versus  the  eating  of  animal 
food,  we  must,  perforce,  notice  the  trend  of 
thought  in  this  matter.  Vegetarianism,  on 
dietetic  as  well  as  humane  grounds,  is  greatly 
on  the  increase;  and  there  are  many  meat- 
eaters  whose  sympathies  are  entirely  with 
the  other  party,  but  who  are  driven  to  de- 
pend more  or  less  upon  animal  food  because 
the  persons  who  cater  for  them  do  not 
understand  the  first  principles  of  dietetics. 
The  primary  difficulty  which  presents  itself 
to  the  would-be  vegetarian,  and  the  final 
argument  of  the  flesh-eaters  is  the  fact  that 
the  nitrogenous  elements  of  food  are  con- 
tained in  meat  in  a  condensed  form,  so  that  a 
greater  amount  of  nourishment  is  obtained 
from  a  small  piece  of  beefsteak  than  from 
a  large  quantity  of  vegetable  food.  As  one 
young  physician  put  it:  "I  am  not  going  to 
stuff  myself  full  of  peas,  beans  and  lentils, 


152  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

and  puff  myself  out  like  an  alderman,  if  I 
can  get  the  same  nourishment  out  of  a 
small  piece  of  beef." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  fact  remains,  that 
the  digestive  apparatus  is  overworked,  the 
kidneys  and  liver  are  clogged,  and  the  mind 
is  rendered  inert  by  the  excessive  quantities 
of  meat  that  are  eaten  today. 

Where  the  caterer  of  a  house  is  in  sym- 
pathy with  vegetarianism,  it  is  possible  to 
so  combine  the  nitrogenous  elements  of  food 
that  a  perfectly  sane  and  satisfactory  diet 
may  be  obtained  without  the  use  of  flesh. 

While  the  killing  of  animals  for  food  may 
be  legitimate  and  justifiable  in  cases  of  nec- 
essity, the  eating  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth 
would  seem  more  natural  and  therefore  more 
beautiful.  To  the  vegetarian  the  thought  of 
devouring  a  dead  body  is  repulsive  in  the 
extreme;  and  it  may  be  that  it  is  only  our 
familiarity  with  the  practice  that  makes  us 
realize  with  equanimity  that  a  life  has  to 
be  violently  sacrificed  to  provide  us  with  a 
dead  carcass  on  which  to  feast.  Animal 
food,  while  it  may  be  agreeable  and  will 
certainly  nourish  animal  life,  is  not  essential 
to  human  health  or  existence;  we  can  do 
very  well  without  it  if  we  choose. 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  153 

A  reduction  in  flesh  eating  and  an  avoid- 
ance of  things  stimulating  and  over-sweet, 
are  undoubtedly  necessary  to  the  body  if  it 
is  to  be  kept  temperate  in  sexual  matters; 
and  only  through  temperance,  which  is  but 
another  word  for  harmony,  balance,  equa- 
tion, can  the  desired  perfection  come. 

There  are  some  physicians  and  teachers 
who  advocate  the  eating  of  food  in  its  nat- 
ural state,  who  contend  that  cooking  changes 
organic  matter  into  inorganic  and  so  destroys 
the  vitality  that  is  necessary  for  the  proper 
nourishment  of  the  body.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
the  consumption  of  a  generous  quantity  of 
fruits  and  nuts  and  the  various  vegetables 
that  do  not  require  the  action  of  heat  to 
make  them  palatable  is  certainly  both  pleas- 
ant and  profitable. 

In  the  matter  of  foods  much  concession 
must,  perforce,  be  made  to  personal  idio- 
syncrasy; enthusiasts  are  apt  to  be  too 
sweeping  in  their  statements,  too  liable  to 
insist  that  what  agrees  with  and  nourishes 
them  must  therefore  be  the  proper  food  for 
another.  We  know  of  men  who  subsist  en- 
tirely upon  raw  peanuts  and  maintain  vigor- 
ous health;  of  others  who  live  upon  nuts 
and  fruits;  of  another  class  who  depend  up- 


154  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

on  milk  entirely;  while  the  majority  of  peo- 
ple are  apparently  quite  healthy  upon  a  mixed 
diet.  It  would  seem  that  each  individual 
should  be  a  law  unto  himself.  It  is  a  gen- 
erally accepted  fact  that  as  we  grow  older 
it  becomes  less  and  less  easy  to  properly 
digest  and  dispose  of  large  quantities  of  food; 
those  who  study  the  question  of  dietetics 
usually  drop  one  of  the  three  meals  gener- 
ally consumed,  and  make  the  other  two 
lighter  in  quantity  and  quality. 

The  drinking  of  a  large  quantity  of  water 
would  appear  to  be  necessary  to  health. 
Five-sixths  of  the  human  body  is  water,  and 
the  excretory  organs  need  a  continuous  sup- 
ply to  keep  them  in  proper  condition.  One 
latter-day  physician  orders  the  drinking  of 
one-twentieth  of  the  entire  weight  daily; 
for  example,  a  person  weighing  140  pounds 
would  be  required  to  drink  seven  pints  daily. 
Where  milk  is  used  freely  the  drinking  of 
water  is  not  so  essential. 

It  may  be  well  to  suggest  to  readers  that 
to  be  not  only  enjoyed  but  assimilated,  food 
must  be  eaten  happily  and  in  good  com- 
pany. Miserable  faces  and  scoldings  will 
spoil  the  most  luxurious  repast. 

It  goes  without    saying  that  an    equable 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  155 

poise  of  body  is  as  necessary  to  perfection 
as  an  unruffled  condition  of  mind.  Every 
action  of  the  body  should  express  something. 
An  unmeaning  tattoo  of  the  fingers  on  the 
table  is  a  waste  of  force.  The  impatient 
tapping  of  a  foot  upon  the  floor  wastes  more 
strength  than  would  be  required  to  accom- 
plish some  worthy  task.  Exclamations  of 
annoyance  such  as  "dear,  dear, !"  "good  gra- 
cious !"  "Merciful  Heavens !"  spoken  with,  as 
is  usual,  an  exaggerated  emphasis,are  accom- 
panied by  an  involuntary  shock  that  per- 
meates the  entire  nervous  system.  The 
ejaculation  has  benefited  no  one  and  has 
helped  to  deplete  the  nervous  force  of  the 
body.  Impatience  is  not  only  useless  but 
wrong,  both  from  a  physiological  and  an 
ethical  point  of  view. 

Perfection  of  body  involves  a  rational  de- 
light in  sexual  joys,  a  fine,  glad  self-expres- 
sing passion.  A  woman  who  declares  her- 
self entirely  lacking  in  physical  desire  writes 
herself  down  imperfect,  a  failure  as  far  as 
the  race  plans  of  the  Almighty  are  con- 
cerned. There  is  a  large  class  of  women 
who  imagine  that  a  distaste  or  a  pretended 
distaste  for  marital  intercourse  renders  them 
more  refined,  and  objects  of  admiration. 


156  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

There  are  women  who  regard  the  operations 
of  other  organs  of  the  body  as  vulgar,  and 
who  apparently  prefer  muddy  complex- 
ions and  incipient  illness  to  a  rational  at- 
tention to  the  demands  of  nature.  There 
will  always  be  fools  in  the  world,  but  the 
would-be  prude  is  a  fool  of  a  peculiarly  ir- 
ritating kind.  Once  let  such  an  one  realize 
that  her  "ladylike"  insensibility  in  matters 
sexual  proves  her  deficient  and  defective, 
and  she  will  be  less  likely  to  boast  of  it 
if  her  statement  be  a  true  one  or  to  invent 
it  if  it  be  false.  Let  us  show  for  a  mo- 
ment the  absurdity  of  this  position. 

The  physical  body  was  created  with  certain 
definite  functions;  to  imagine  the  Creator 
as  designing  the  operations  of  powers  which 
he  desired  should  remain  inactive,  would 
be  such  an  obvious  absurdity  that  a  child 
could  pronounce  upon  it.  To  devise  a 
scheme  for  continuity  and  to  contemplate 
impotence  would  be  a  manifest  irrationality. 
Whether  a  condition  be  the  result  of  over- 
indulgence or  of  lack  of  use  the  issue  is 
the  same,  and  incompleteness  and  impotence 
are  alike  abhorrent. 

We  are  required  to  look  for  perfection 
in  ourselves,  and  only  by  so  doing  shall  we 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  157 

ever  attain  to  it.  As  by  a  rational,  joyful 
indulgence,  so  only  through  a  reasonable 
self-restraint  can  we  know  the  beauty  and 
keeness  of  that  supreme  delight  in  Life  that 
the  Creator  intended;  we  hold  the  key  to 
the  matter  in  our  own  hands.  Personal  dis- 
cretion and  effort  are  undoubtedly  a  part 
of  the  original  plan.  What  kind  of  bodies 
are  we  preparing  for  the  next  generation? 
What  kind  of  temperament  and  disposition 
are  we  handing  on  to  it?  Are  the  months 
of  pregnancy  to  be  spent  in  idle  lounging 
on  couches,  or  in  glad  physical  exertion,  in 
the  joy  of  the  woods  and  the  flowers,  in 
the  continuance  of  accustomed,  muscle- 
training,  blood  purifying  and  sinew-making 
exercise?  Are  expectant  mothers  shutting 
themselves  up  by  day  and  venturing  forth 
under  cover  of  night  lest  men  should  see 
what  is,  ethically  speaking,  the  greatest  and 
most  beautiful  of  physical  conditions;  a  con- 
dition rousing  in  the  most  callous  and  selfish 
of  men  feelings  of  chivalry  and  knight-er- 
rantry, a  condition  which  in  a  properly  con- 
stituted community  would  be  a  glory  and  a 
pride  ? 

A    perverted    idea    of    the    sex-relation 
lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  this  false  modesty; 


158  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

let  us  hasten  the  era  of  wholesomer,  cleaner 
and  saner  thought  of  the  relationship  of  man 
and  woman,  and  the  day  of  a  perfect  body 
will  not  be  far  behind. 

I  see  a  day  not  far  distant  when  men 
and  women  will  glory  in  their  magnificent 
health,  their  capacity  for  physical  enjoy- 
ment, their  skill,  dexterity  and  grace,  as  they 
do  in  the  beauty  and  sweetness  of  outside 
Nature;  will  be  open  and  honest  with  each 
other,  fearlessly  and  frankly  acknowledging 
their  mutual  needs,  and  working  together 
for  the  perfection  of  the  race. 

To  balance  the  man's  desire  for  posses- 
sion, the  normal  woman  has  that  impelling 
wish  to  give,  that  strange  appreciation  of 
masterfulness  where  she  loves  that  is  such  a 
dominating  characteristic  of  feminine  sex- 
nature.  To  be  well-sexed  means  masculine 
and  feminine  perfection;  let  those  who  are 
so  blest  rejoice  and  glory  in  the  fact;  let 
those  who  are  lacking  live  in  such  a  man- 
ner, through  temperance  in  food,  freedom 
and  vigor  of  exercise,  wisdom  in  dress,  and 
with  these  a  wise  mental  attitude  towards 
things  sexual,  that  to  the  two  talents  may 
be  added  ten. 

The  sexually  inert,  worn-out,  or  altogether 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  159 

deficient  are  hopeless;  they  will  never  give 
to  the  world  one  great  thought,  one  mighty 
invention,  one  grand  deed.  This  is  Nature's 
law;  let  those  who  pride  themselves  on  sex- 
ual insensibility  ponder  over  it  and  then  find 
for  themselves,  if  they  can,  an  attribute  over 
which  to  boast  which  will  have  a  firmer 
foundation. 

Ungovernable  or  perverted  sexual  appe- 
tite is  either  a  disease  in  itself  or  the 
symptom  of  a  disease. 

Abnormalities  of  desire  are  as  repugnant 
to  the  contemplation  of  healthy  minds  as 
is  the  sight  of  a  physical  monstrosity  to  the 
outer  eye.  All  such  will  be  unknown  in 
an  era  of  frank  knowledge  and  acknowl- 
edgement of  sex-needs,  of  early  unions 
based  on  love  and  justice,  of  freer  thinking, 
and  saner  and  more  vigorous  action.  Ab- 
horrent practices  and  degrading  vices  are 
not  confined  to  our  prisons.  They  show 
their  hideous  faces  all  about  us,  the  out- 
come of  prurient  secrecy,  of  unbridled  early 
excesses,  of  idle  satiety,  of  morbid  curiosity. 

Let  the  well-meaning  persons  who  are 
concerning  themselves  so  earnestly  and  shud- 
dering at  the  increasing  divorces  in  our  land, 
turn  their  attention  to  a  more  serious  danger, 
and  to  more  practical  issues. 


l6o  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

There  are  secret  and  abominable  vices 
propagating  among  us,  and  the  reformers 
who  should  be  looking  to  this  infamy  are 
moving  about  with  bandaged  eyes,  their 
unwise  hands  seeking  to  hold  together 
those  whom  Nature  and  Justice  has  declared 
unequally  and  therefore  improperly  paired. 

Let  these  tear  the  veils  from  their  eyes, 
wash  the  prurient  prudery  from  their  minds, 
shake  off  the  fetters  of  ecclesiastical  dicta- 
tion, and  let  the  clear  stream  of  a  wise  and 
pure  knowledge  pour  itself  over  these  can- 
cerous spots  in  our  social  body.  They  will 
find  this  a  more  godly  and  human  occupa- 
tion than  that  of  forcing  erring  creatures  to 
perpetuate  fatal  mistakes;  of  doing  their  ut- 
most to  keep  together  those  who  should 
never  have  met;  of  seriously  contemplating 
the  procreation  of  children  by  persons  whose 
love  for  each  other  has  become  a  thing  of 
the  past. 

That  there  is  an  increasing  number  of 
divorces  I  do  not  deny;  that  the  fact  is  a 
cause  for  alarm  I  am  not  at  all  sure.  It 
might  be  wise  to  gravely  consider  the  ques- 
tion: "Do  these  divorces  break  up  happy 
homes  ?" 

If  truth  and    common-sense  answer  this 


THE    PERFECT    BODY  l6l 

question  in  the  negative,  we  have  but  to 
consider  the  further  question,  "Is  it  wisdom 
or  is  it  foolishness  to  hold  together  by  force 
of  law,  ecclesiastical  or  social,  two  who  de- 
sire to  be  apart?  Is  it  holy  or  is  it  unholy 
to  force  persons  into  hourly  companionship 
who  shrink  from  each  other  mentally  and 
physically?  Is  the  continuance  of  such  a 
marriage  a  tribute  to  a  sacred  institution  or 
an  insult  to  it?  Can  one  contemplate  with 
any  degree  of  complacency  the  procreation 
of  children  by  a  man  and  woman  who  no 
longer  love?" 

A  study  of  Mr.  Snyder's  book:  "The  Ge- 
ography of  Marriage"  will  show  the  present 
absurd  social  conditions  caused  by  the  wide 
divergence  of  the  laws  in  our  different 
states  with  regard  to  marriage  and  divorce. 
In  the  state  of  Arizona  persons  who  have 
lived  together  for  one  year  become  legally 
married  whether  they  ever  intended  such  a 
relationship,  or  desired  it;  while  a  clergy- 
man in  Worcester  Mass,  who  took  the  wom- 
an he  loved  to  wife,  by  mutual  pledges,  in 
the  face  of  his  full  congregation,  who  rilled 
in  a  marriage  certificate  and  then  lived  in 
happy  wedlock  for  many  years  had  to  un- 
dergo the  humiliation  of  the  denial  of  his 


l62  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

marriage  by  the  courts,  a  law  having  been 
passed  in  the  state  of  Massachusetts  in  1646, 
which  was  still  in  force,  forbidding  persons 
to  marry  except  before  some  magistrate  or 
third  party  qualified  to  perform  the  service! 

In  New  York  State  remarriage  is  refused 
to  the  guilty  party  to  a  divorce;  he  may, 
however,  cross  the  ferry  to  Hoboken  and 
marry  whom  he  will,  without  fear  of  the  law. 

A  man  desiring  a  divorce  from  his  New 
York  wife  may  gain  one  in  South  Dakota 
and,  gaining  a  decree  which  gives  him  the 
privilege  of  remarriage,  he  may  marry  again 
and  settle  in  the  West,  rearing  a  family  of 
children.  His  first  wife,  having  retained 
her  rights  in  her  own  state,  may  sue  him 
for  divorce,  naming  his  new  wife  as  co- 
respondent; or,  if  she  does  not  see  fit  to 
sue  him  for  divorce,  the  husband  may,  if 
he  wishes,  come  back  East,  and  live  com- 
fortably with  wife  No.  i,  and  have  more 
children;  each  family  will  be  legitimate  in 
its  own  state,  and  illegitimate  in  the  other! 
Whether  a  uniform  marriage  law  could  be 
successfully  enacted  and  carried  into  effect 
is  a  serious  question;  it  would  certainly  seem 
that  some  concerted  action  on  the  part  of 
the  States  might  remedy  this  scandalous 
condition  of  affairs. 


KING  MIND 


CHAPTER    VII 


N  considering  the  human 
mind  and  its  relation  to  the 
sexual  organism  we  shall 
take  another  position  than 
that  of  the  materialist.  Nei- 
ther is  it  our  province  or 
intention  to  offer  any  new  psychological 
theories;  we  will  simply  look  at  the  matter 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  majority  of 
mankind  who  believe  in  immortality.  We 
take  the  position  that  better  than  the  as- 
sumption that  we  are  bodies  that  contain 
immortal  souls,  is  the  thought  that  we  are 
souls,  inhabiting,  temporarily,  abodesof  flesh. 
The  soul,  the  mind,  the  self,  however  we 
may  designate  the  persisting  element,  the 
indestructible  ego, — while  figuring  on  this 
world-plane  of  existence,  uses  the  physical 
body  as  its  instrument  of  expression;  what 
it  may  use  in  a  future  life,  under  altered 
conditions,  it  is  fruitless  now  to  speculate; 
our  business  is  with  today,  and  today's  is- 
sues and  problems. 


164  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

In  our  present  life  the  brain  is  the  vehicle 
of  thought;  and  the  brain  and  the  nervous 
system  being  so  closely  related  that  they 
act  and  react  on  each  other  constantly,  it 
will  readily  be  seen  that  our  thinking  de- 
pends to  a  large  extent  upon  our  mode  of 
living.  That  the  action  of  the  brain  should 
be  modified,  aided,  or  hindered  by  conditions 
of  digestion,  by  physical  vigor  or  fatigue, 
by  the  equable,  excited  or  stimulated  con- 
dition of  the  nerves,  is  easily  understood. 
Hence  it  follows  that  mind  and  body  must 
be  in  harmonious  accord  if  the  proper  de- 
velopment of  either  is  to  continue. 

If  bodily  conditions  exercise  so  impor- 
tant an  influence  upon  mental  processes,  no 
less  does  the  mind  control  the  bodily  func- 
tions to  a  certain  extent.  The  most  sceptical 
in  this  direction  will  probably  remember 
some  such  occasion  as  this  in  his  experience: 
the  sitting  down  to  a  meal  with  a  vigorous 
appetite,  and  the  sudden  lack  of  desire  for 
food  when  a  message  containing  evil  tid- 
ings interrupted  the  meal. 

The  danger  today,  is,  however,  not  in  the 
direction  of  lack  of  faith  in  the  influence 
of  mind  over  matter;  on  the  contrary,  the 
credulity  of  a  large  portion  of  the  commun- 


KING    MIND  165 


ity  with  regard  to  the  absolute  control  of 
mental  power  over  disease  is  likely  to  cause 
a  revulsion  to  the  old  disbelief  in  the  effi- 
cacy of  auto-suggestion  or  self-hypnotism 
to  affect  conditions  of  health  or  disease. 
It  may  be,  however,  that  out  of  the  pres- 
ent chaos  of  thought  we  may  eventually 
evolve  some  sound  basic  principles  that  are 
scientifically  demonstrable,  and  yet  simple 
enough  to  appeal  to  the  uneducated  or 
the  under-educated. 

Recent  experiments  in  hypnotic  sugges- 
tion have  demonstrated  new  possibilities  in 
the  cure  of  disease  and  the  prevention  of 
crime. 

Suggestion  plays  an  important  part  in  the 
education  of  a  child  whether  we  realize  it 
or  not.  As  Mr.  Baldwin  forcibly  puts  it: 
"A  man  labors  for  his  children  ten  hours  a 
day,  gets  his  life  insured  for  their  support 
after  his  death,  and  yet  he  lets  their  mental 
growth,  the  formation  of  their  character, 
the  evolution  of  the  personality,  go  on  by 
absorption, — if  not  worse, — from  common, 
vulgar,  imported  and  changing,  often  im- 
moral attendants." 

Suggestions  of  ill-health  may  be  given  a 
child  by  solicitious  inquiries  as  to  his  feel- 


1 66  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

ings, and  remarks  upon  his  appearance;  and, 
conversely,  a  condition  of  health  may  be 
induced  by  a  cheerful  disregard  of  minor 
ailments,  coupled,  of  course,  with  wise  over- 
sight. A  child  who  has  absolute  trust  in  the 
word  of  a  parent  may  be  relieved  of  acute 
pain  through  the  power  of  suggestion  as 
given  by  the  parent;  "Mother's  hands"  and 
a  stern  order  to  the  pain  to  leave  the  child, 
with  assurance  that  the  pain  will  gradually 
disappear,  having,  in  many  cases,  the  de- 
sired effect. 

As  all  students  of  practical  psychology 
know,  a  command  to  a  child  given  in  the 
form  of  a  prohibition  usually  fails  of  its  ob- 
ject. "Don't  do"  simply  suggests  doing, 
and  generally  results  in  disobedience.  The 
ancient  story  of  the  mother  who  left  home 
with  the  caution  to  the  children  not  "to 
put  beans  up  their  noses,"  thereby  suggest- 
ing to  them  an  interesting  experiment  which 
they  subsequently  tried,  to  their  own  agony 
and  the  mother's  discomfiture,  is  an  extreme 
example  of  much  modern  foolishness  in  the 
matter  of  discipline.  Kindergarten  theories 
and  practice  are  doing  much  good  in  this 
connection,  but  it  will  be  some  time  before 
parental  injunctions  cease  to  be  couched  in 


KING    MIND  167 


the  form  of  prohibitions,  and  "don't,"  is 
eliminated  from  the  mother's  vocabulary. 

Professor  O'  Shea  of  Wisconsin  Univer- 
sity tells  a  story  of  the  fall  from  grace  of 
a  boy  whose  father  left  him  alone  in  the 
house  with  the  sole  suggestion:  "Don't  touch 
the  clock."  The  boy  had  never  touched  the 
clock  before,  but  when  the  father  returned 
it  had  been  trifled  with  to  its  exceeding  det- 
riment. Commenting  on  the  story,  Prof. 
O'  Shea  said:  "If  instead  of  leaving  the  boy 
with  his  mind  empty  of  all  suggestion  save 
one  that  centered  his  thoughts  upon  the 
clock, the  father  had  said:  'There  are  some 
bits  of  wood  in  the  cellar  and  you  may  have 
my  tools  to  make  a  box  if  you  like,'  the 
clock  would  have  remained  intact." 

Another  story  told  by  Prof.  O'  Shea  illus- 
trates the  fact  that  the  trained  mind  of  the 
adult  is  also  keenly  susceptible  to  the  power 
of  suggestion.  On  the  wall  of  the  labora- 
tory in  the  scientific  department  of  the  uni- 
versity was  a  notice:  "Do  not  strike  a  match 
in  this  room!"  Owing  to  the  danger  con- 
nected with  explosive  gases,  this  caution 
was  very  necessary.  One  of  the  learned 
professors  was  seen,  one  day,  to  deliberately 
strike  a  match  and  watch  it  burn  out. 


l68  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

When  brought  before  the  Faculty  Board 
and  asked  to  explain  his  action  he  assured 
the  Faculty  that  he  had  had  no  reason 
for  doing  so  unjustifiable  an  act;  his  only 
explanation  was  that,  being  at  the  time  in 
deep  thought  on  an  abstruse  subject,  his 
eye  had  caught  the  prohibition  on  the  wall 
and  the  suggestion  of  the  striking  of  a 
match  had  affected  him  subconsciously  and 
prompted  an  act  which  had  been  performed 
by  him  without  his  conscious  volition. 

The  cultivation  of  any  faculty  means  im- 
proved capacity  and  powers.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  the  imagination  and  of  the  aesthetic 
sense  opens  a  new  world  of  delight  to  the 
ordinary  man  and  woman,  and  means  added 
capacity  for  enjoyment,  added  pleasure  in 
what  may  have  been  to  them  the  common 
things  of  life.  Keen  appreciations  of  both 
joy  and  pain  have  increased  with  the  de- 
velopment and  stimulation  of  the  nervous 
system.  The  savage,  whose  brain  and  nerv- 
ous organism  are  comparatively  undevel- 
oped, does  not  feel  the  same  intense  joy  or 
grief,  or  the  same  physical  pain  or  pleasure 
that  we  do  whose  nerve  centres  more  quick- 
ly respond  to  stimulation;  the  ascetic  life 
and  apparent  bravery  of  some  savage  tribes 


KING    MIND  169 


may,  perhaps,    be    explained    in    this  way. 

The  beauty  of  the  most  exquisite  thought 
of  the  world's  greatest  poet  would  be  lost 
upon  the  dull  perception  of  the  old-clothes- 
man; one  might  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm 
explain  the  law  governing  the  solar  system 
to  the  average  Irish  day  laborer  and  he 
would  listen  with  stolid  face  and  unhearing 
ears;  ask  him  how  many  dollars  he  earns 
in  a  week  or  what  he  has  had  for  breakfast 
and  he  will  understand  you  perfectly. 

A  spiritual  existence  has  no  attractions  for 
the  materialist,  and  could  not  have,  in  the 
very  nature  of  things;  and  the  saint  finds  his 
heaven  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  realizes 
its  joy  even  while  yet  upon  the  plane  of 
physical  existence.  The  thing  we  worship 
we  tend  to  become;  and  our  realization  can 
never  transcend  the  thing  desired  and  ex- 
pected. This  worship  of  the  ideal,  the  striv- 
ing after  something  higher  and  better  than 
he  has  yet  attained,  this  admiration  for  what 
is  great  and  good,  are  just  what  distinguish 
man  from  the  rest  of  the  animal  world. 
Man's  moral  ideals  are  what  mark  him  as 
a  man. 

The  ideal  in  body  and  mind  development 
is,  of  course,  harmony;  the  body  and  mind 


1 70  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

working  together  for  mutual  benefit;  the 
body's  wants  attended  to  with  due  regard 
for  the  dignity  of  the  body,  and  the  mind 
given  its  hours  of  aspiration,  of  study,  of 
quiet  receptivity.  It  may  be  that  what  we 
call  inspiration  in  the  case  of  the  poet,  and 
intuition  when,  in  important  matters,  that 
has  been  proved  to  be  a  safer  guide  than 
experience,  are  the  realization  in  us  of  that 
spark  from  Divinity  which  is  the  seed  of 
our  immortality,  represent  to  us  the  highest 
that  we  can  experience  in  this  sphere  of 
earthly  activity. 

The  informing,  creative  power,  the  eter- 
nal essence  of  all  that  is  divine, — it  is  for 
this  that  the  hearts  of  men  yearn  and  to 
which  they  look.  Through  the  child  and  the 
poet  the  spirit  speaks  plainly;  but  the  world 
does  not  understand.  A  flash  of  inspiration 
informs  the  genius  or  the  reformer,  and 
men  say:  "He  is  mad."  But  the  world  goes 
on,  and  the  works  of  men  die,  and  only 
the  thought  of  genius  endures:  it  endures, 
and  the  thunder  of  the  true  reformer,  and 
the  joy  of  the  poet,  because  such  are  of  the 
essence  of  the  eternal.  Our  intuitive  sense 
of  the  highest  in  us  recognizes  our  moments 
of  high  aspiration  as  the  greatest  in  our 


KING    MIND 


lives;  when  upon  some  mountain  top,  wheth- 
er literal  or  figurative,  we  shut  out  all  that 
is  ignoble  or  time-serving,  when  the  soul  is 
open  to  the  inflow  of  divine  light  and  the 
pleasures  of  mere  sense  enjoyment  are  as 
though  they  were  not. 

The  thought  that  prompts  the  sacrifice  of 
one's  life  for  the  good  of  another;  the  firm 
desire  and  determination  to  work,  live,  and, 
if  need  be,  die  for  a  great  and  good  cause; 
the  flash  of  the  poet's  genius  and  the  high 
conception  of  the  artist  or  the  writer — these 
are  the  most  real  of  our  higher  mental 
states.  What  we  voluntarily  unite  ourselves 
to  that  in  time  we  become;  according  as 
we  use  the  higher,  the  aspiring,  the  god-like 
thoughts  or  the  lower,  the  transient,  the 
earth-thoughts,  so  do  we  become  spiritual 
or  worldly. 

JLove  is  transcendental  in  its  very  essence; 
and  love's  expression,  at  its  highest,  is  the 
expression  of  an  unselfish  emotion.  It  is 
curious  and  interesting  to  note  how  what  is, 
in  its  beginning,  a  purely  egotistical  feeling, 
a  desire  for  physical  possession,  the  gratifi- 
cation of  a  strong  instinct  of  affinity,  be- 
comes, through  love,  through  the  cultivation 
of  the  imagination  and  the  emotions,  the 


172  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

chivalrous,  unselfish,  protecting  love  of  the 
man  for  the  woman,  the  yearning  self-sac- 
rificing devotion  of  the  woman  for  the  man. 

Do  we  find  Love,  as  we  know  it,  in  the 
uncultured  savage  ?  I  am  not  now  speaking 
of  maternal  love,  which  is  an  instinct  shared 
by  us  with  most  female  animals  throughout 
creation, — but  sex-love,  the  faculty  that  in- 
cludes, as  we  have  seen,  desire,  passion  and 
unselfishness? 

In  the  savage,  whose  mind  is  uncultivated 
and  whose  appreciations  and  imagination 
are  undeveloped,  we  find  the  mere  sex-im- 
pulse, not  greatly  differentiated  from  that 
of  the  lower  animals  whose  actions  are 
prompted  by  instinct  alone.  The  cultivation 
of  the  imagination,  the  development  of 
tenderness  and  affection  have  given  us  the 
altruistic  element  that  is  the  glory  of  all 
marriage  that  is  worthy  of  the  name,  and 
of  all  real  friendship. 

That  joy  in  the  intimate  relations  of  the 
sexes  is  largely  due  to  the  imagination  needs 
no  proof;  there  is  a  whole  realm  of  sexual 
delight  of  which  even  the  borders  are  un- 
known to  the  brutal  man  and  the  materialist. 

The  theory  that  love  is  a  brain  condition, 
that  the  organs  of  love  are  a  part  of  brain 


KING    MIND  173 


mechanism  has,  however,  been  for  some 
time  exploded.  It  needs  no  scientist  to  dem- 
onstrate the  locality  of  the  sensation  when 
a  sudden  pang  of  jealousy,  or  terror,  or  pas- 
sion takes  one;  the  solar  plexus  would  seem 
to  be  the  seat  of  the  great  emotions,  the 
inmost  heart  of  being. 

But  is  it  possible  to  measure  what  the 
mind  gives  of  its  store  of  wonderful  things, 
— dreams  of  beauty,  idealization  of  the  one 
loved,  an  idealization  that  often  survives 
time,  old  age,  and  wrong? 

What  division  of  the  mind  do  we  use  in 
our  sexual  life?  This  is  a  serious  question. 
In  the  intimate  sex-relationship  does  the 
physical  organism  take  the  bit  between 
its  teeth,  and  rush  onward  at  its  will,  drag- 
ging the  mind,  a  temporarily  incapable 
driver,  at  its  heels?  With  the  unbalanced 
human  entity  this  is  the  situation,  undoubt- 
edly; the  sex-passion,  being  to  such  a  one 
of  the  earth,  earthy,  calls  for  no  aid  from 
the  mind  save  that  afforded  by  a  more  or 
less  vulgar  memory  of  former  pleasure. 
The  condition  in  which  the  ignorant  or  the 
sensual  individual  finds  himself  is  essentially 
a  physical  condition.  It  is  a  physical  hunger 
that  must  be  satisfied  in  just  the  same  spirit, 


174  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

(provided,  of  course,  that  he  has  a  moral 
right  to  the  act)  in  which  he  eats  a  meal. 
Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  the  decadent, 
and  a  certain  species  of  degenerate,  the  mind 
may  be  debased  into  pandering  to  the  lower 
motions  of  the  bodily  desire.  Mr.  LeGal- 
lienne  in  his  stanzas,  "The  Decadent  to  his 
Soul,''  has  given  a  revolting,  yet  perfect 
illustration  of  this  possibility. 

'Then  from  that  day  he  used  his  soul 
As  bitters  to  the  over  dulcet  sins, 
As  olives  to  the  fatness  of  the  feast — 
She  made  those  dear  heart-breaking  ecstasies 
Of  minor  chords  amid  the  Phrygian  flutes, 
She  sauced  his  sins  with  splendid  memories, 
Starry  regrets  and  infinite  hopes  and  fears; 
His  holy  youth  and  his  first  love 
Made  pearly  background  to  strange-colored 
vice. 

Sin  is  no  sin  when  virtue  is   forgot. 
It  is  so  good  in  sin  to  keep  in  sight 
The  white  hills  whence  we  fell,  to  measure 

by- 

To  say  I  was  so  high,  so  white,  so  pure, 
And  am  so  low,  so    blood-stained,  and  so 

base; 

I  revel  here  amid  the  sweet  sweet  mire 
And  yonder  are  the  hills  of  morning  flowers ; 


KING    MIND  175 


So  high,  so  low;  so  lost  and  with  me  yet; 
To  stretch  the  octave  'tween  the  dream  and 

deed, 

Ah,  that's  the  thrill! 
To  dream  so  well,  to  do  so  ill, — 
There  comes  the  bitter-sweet  that  makes 

the  sin? 

Someone  has  said  that  cruelty  is  due  to 
a  lack  of  imagination;  and  careful  thought 
on  the  subject  tends  to  at  least  a  partial 
acceptance  of  the  statement.  Imagination, 
intuitive  noble  impulse,  poetic  fancy,— these 
pertain  to  the  highest  part  of  our  nature, 
and  when  the  highest  is  in  cultivation  a 
great  wide  sympathy  is  involved,  a  sympa- 
thy that  would  make  cruelty  impossible.  Ac- 
ceptance of  this  hypothesis  would  justify 
the  assumption  that  any  species  of  marital 
tyranny  is  impossible  to  the  man  who  sys- 
tematically cultivates  his  mental  powers  and 
imagination.  To  a  mind  which  is  even  to  a 
limited  degree  educated  out  of  the  merely 
physical,  sexual  subjection  must  be  a  thing 
abhorrant,  and  mutual  delight  the  only  pos- 
sibility. 

Dr.  Joseph  Howe  says:  "Mental  emo- 
tions have  a  more  powerful  influence  over 
the  functions  of  the  genital  organs  than  they 


176  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

have  over  any  other  functions  of  the  body.'' 
He  gives  interesting  examples,  from  his 
own  practice,  of  the  peculiar  effect  of  the 
first  sex-experience  of  a  man  upon  his 
future  experiences.  Such  instances  are  not 
only  interesting  but  extremely  pertinent, 
showing  as  they  do  the  necessity  for  right 
mental  conditions,  and  the  importance  of  a 
proper  initiation  into  sex-mysteries.  If,  as 
is  proved  by  numbers  of  such  instances,  a 
man's  whole  future  life  is  "marked"  by  the 
mental  emotions  excited  in  him  by  his  first 
sex-experience,  how  important  is  his  con- 
dition of  mind  in  early  youth,  how  neces- 
sary that  his  associations  shall  be  in  every 
respect  wise  and  desirable. 

The  writer  is  acquainted  with  one  whose 
sole  creed  for  many  years  was:  "What  is 
good  is  beautiful,  what  is  evil  is  ugly."  And, 
indeed,  for  the  fully-awakened  and  keenly 
sensitive  soul  such  a  profession  might  suf- 
fice. Delicate  sensibilities,  a  sane  moral  vis- 
ion, and  sound  physical  health,  imply  an  ideal 
life.  To  cultivate  an  appreciation  of  the 
beautiful  in  human  life  is  an  obvious  duty, 
to  recognise  the  essential  beauty  in  sex-re- 
lationship, and  to  cultivate  such  appreciation 
would  result  happily  for  both  parties  con- 


KING    MIND  177 


cerned.  The  final  product  of  such  recog- 
nition would  be  a  truer  and  healthier  phil- 
osophy of  life,  a  philosophy  in  which  there 
would  be  no  place  for  anxious  foreboding, 
excited  vexation,  or  egotistical  unfairness, 
a  life  in  which  selfish  recrimination  and  un- 
natural desire  would  be  alike  unknown. 

To  the  mind  that  is  fairly  poised,  the 
duties  and  pleasures  of  life  stand  forth  in 
their  true  relationship,  and  minor  discom- 
forts, trivial  annoyances  are  lightly  accepted 
or  unheeded.  To  such,  fear  of  consequences 
is  impossible,  and  worry  is  a  manifest  ab- 
surdity. 

The  man  who  sees  life  in  its  true  per- 
spective realizes  that  fear  of  any  sort  is  a 
deterrent;  no  good  thing  can  come  of  a 
mind  that  is  timorous  and  time-serving.  The 
man  who  consults  the  world's  opinion  rather 
than  the  dictates  of  his  own  higher  nature 
will  never  rise  above  mediocrity,  either 
spiritually  or  materially.  Continual  depend- 
ence upon  public  opinion,  and  perpetual  fear 
of  the  world's  censure  are  stupifying,  stulti- 
fying and  deadening  influences  upon  the 
mind  and  the  will,  and  in  such  a  soul-destroy- 
ing mental  atmosphere  no  holy,  or  great,  or 
beautiful  thing  can  grow. 


178  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

If  there  is  one  thing  more  important  than 
another  which  we  should  strive  to  inculcate 
in  our  children,  it  is  fearlessness.  At  present 
almost  all  parental  injunctions  are  tinged 
with  appeals  to  one  of  the  basest  of  human 
emotions.  A  happy  young  creature  who 
might  safely  play  with  and  enjoy  the  com- 
panionship of  all  the  living  things  with  which 
he  comes  in  contact,  and  fearlessly  handle 
and  caress  the  young  animals  with  which 
he  is  by  nature  in  sympathy,  is  taught  dread 
of  his  playmates  by  such  parental  prohibit- 
ions as  these:  "Don't  touch  that  dog,  he 
may  bite  you."  "Oh,  that  nasty  caterpillar, 
knock  it  off!"  "Keep  away  from  the  cow; 
she  will  hook  you!"  "Run  from  that  hor- 
rid toad;  don't  let  it  spit  on  you!"  And 
so  on,  till  the  poor  child  shrinks  from  con- 
tact with  the  creatures  that  might  have  af- 
forded him  both  knowledge  and  delight, 
and  feels  that  the  whole  animal  creation  is 
in  league  to  do  him  hurt. 

Two  children,  aged  three  and  six  respec- 
tively, being  taken  by  their  mother  to  the 
snake  show  held  a  few  years  ago  in  New 
York  City,  fearlessly  followed  her  example, 
and  handled  the  snakes  with  a  gentle  de- 
light, twining  them  about  their  arms,  and 


KING    MIND 


179 


laying  their  own  soft  faces  against  the  cool 
skins  of  the  beautiful  creatures.  The  word 
snake,  such  a  bug-bear  and  a  horror  to  most 
children,  became  associated  in  their  minds 
with  things  of  beauty,  and  a  happy  holiday; 
an  impression  that  would,  doubtless,  remain 
with  them  through  life. 

Above  all,  and  in  the  Name  of  God,  let 
us  teach  our  children  fearlessness  as  to  the 
world's  opinion;  teach  them  that  God  and 
the  inner  voice  are  the  only  arbiters,  and 
that  the  approbation  of  society  may  be  the 
veriest  misfortune;  teach  them  that  our  sole 
obligation  in  life  is  to  live  up  to  our  highest 
ideals,  and  to  cultivate  these  ideals  by  com- 
panionship with  the  great  and  the  good 
among  our  fellows  and  through  the  pages 
of  literature. 

Anxious  foreboding  is  utterly  unphilo- 
sophical;  if  the  dreaded  evil  does  not  oc- 
cur, which  is  the  fact  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  we  have  wasted  time,  thought  and 
emotion;  if  it  does  materialize,  and  there 
is  a  demand  for  special  strength,  wisdom, 
or  patience,  we  shall  find  that  the  root  of 
these  has  been  sapped  and  their  energy  ex- 
hausted by  previous  worry.  Not  only  so; 
with  worry  and  fear,  as  with  wise  and 


l8o  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

happy  thoughts,  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that 
we  attract  to  ourselves  the  conditions  upon 
which  the  mind  dwells. 

Worry,  fear,  vexation,  and  similar  evil 
thoughts,  have  a  most  definite  effect  upon 
the  female  organism,  not  only  during  gesta- 
tion, but  also  at  the  time  of  sexual  union; 
light-heartedness,  and  a  loving  appreciation 
of  the  situation  is  a  message  of  health  to 
the  object  of  devotion,  and  physical  con- 
tent is  implied. 

As  suggested  in  the  chapter  "Motherhood 
a  Joy,"  there  are  many  intelligent  men  and 
women  who  are  able  to  realize  all  the  beauty 
of  the  most  intimate  relationship,  without 
endangering  the  health  or  perhaps  the  life 
of  the  wife,  or  begetting  children  whose  ex- 
istence would  be  a  proof  of  unwisdom.  This 
through  no  attempt  at  any  sort  of  "preven- 
tion," or  "precaution,"  or  appliance,  but  sim- 
ply through  a  willing  abandonment  of  the 
sensual  and  a  mental  cultivation  of  the  purely 
loving  and  affectionate;  the  love-act  is  fully 
and  mutually  enjoyed  without  loss  or  languor 
to  either.  Such  a  relationship  has  in  it  ele- 
ments of  beauty,  and  of  delicate  sweetness 
which  are  lacking  in  the  too-often  hasty 
and  merely  sensual  act;  and  the  married 


KING    MIND  l8l 


pair  who  are  wise  enough  to  understand 
this  will  find  themselves  lovers,  sensitive, 
appreciative  and  devoted,  their  honeymoon 
prolonged  through  the  years  of  middle-age. 

We  know  of  young  wives  who,  though 
they  were  of  an  affectionate  nature,  and 
truly  in  love  with  their  husbands,  were  yet 
afraid  to  voluntarily  offer  a  kiss  or  caress, 
because  the  attention  was  invariably  mis- 
understood; the  little  act  of  affection  was 
taken  as  implying  a  desire  for  a  relation  that 
had  no  place  in  her  mind.  There  are  few 
husbands  who  are  so  grossly  stupid  as  this; 
yet  there  are  many  who  fail  to  recognise 
the  possibilities  in  the  realm  of  love;  and 
who  do  not  understand  that  a  woman  may 
be  starved  for  affection  while  satiated  with 
sexual  sweets. 

If,  in  the  nearness  and  dearness  of  mar- 
ital intercourse,  the  mind  were  kept  solely 
upon  that  nearness  and  dearness,  except  in 
the  rare  intervals  where  a  complete  union  is 
mutually  desired,  —  not  only  would  the 
relationship  be  infinitely  more  delightful 
and  less  exhausting  to  the  wife,  but  there 
would  be  established  a  refined,  delicate,  and 
spiritualized  relationship  that  could  not  but 
react  favorably  upon  the  participants. 


1 82  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

The  mind  and  the  body  were  never  cre- 
ated to  be  in  perpetual  conflict,  but  to  aid, 
intensify,  and  beautify  each  other;  to  grow 
and  develop  together;  to  avoid  for  both 
asceticism  on  the  one  hand  and  grossness 
on  the  other;  and  great  at  last  through 
strenuous  effort  and  glad  agreement,  to 
realize  the  supreme  intention  of  the  great 
Designer. 


THE  RATIONALE  OF   CELIBACY 


CHAPTER     VIII 


HERE  is  a  strong  obligation 
on  the  part  of  every  young 
man  to  marry  and  marry  early. 
If  he  is  vigorous  and  healthy 
the  responsibility  of  marriage 
will  be  a  stimulus,  and  in  any 
case,  the  condition  is  one  of  health  and, 
if  wisely  entered  into,  of  happiness.  A  man 
of  good  abilities  and  an  assured  even  though 
small  financial  position,  is  safer,  happier, 
and  in  a  better  attitude  towards  Society  as 
a  married  man  than  as  a  bachelor. 

To  deprecate  hasty  and  injudicious  mar- 
riage is  a  matter  of  course;  but  a  young 
man  of  five-and-twenty  who  is  endowed 
with  a  reasonable  amount  of  good  sense 
and  a  modicum  of  self-restraint  should  cer- 
tainly be  able  to  recognize  the  matrimonial 
pit-falls. 

An  old  bachelor  does  not  make  a  satis- 
factory husband ;  as  a  chief  objection,  he  has 
fixed  habits  where  adaptability  is  the  first 


184  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

desideratum;  at  forty  he  is  either  a  celibate 
or  a  loose  liver,  neither  of  which  conditions 
makes  him  eligible  for  matrimony. 

In  the  development  of  character,  the  in- 
evitable yielding,  the  necessary  harmonizing 
of  interests  exercises  a  beneficent  influence. 

There  is  no  more  beautiful  sight  than  of 
two  young  people,  the  complement  of  each 
other  mentally  and  physically,  strong,  lov- 
ing, ardent,  and  unselfish,  with  a  little  flock 
multiplying  around  them  as  the  years  go 
by,  developing  and  improving  side  by  side, 
middle  age  finding  them  still  young,  still 
loving,  and  surrounded  by  a  bodyguard  of 
fine  sons  and  daughters,  the  obvious  fruit 
of  love  and  harmony. 

If  a  man  of  twenty-five  in  a  fair  finan- 
cial position  and  with  a  healthy  physical 
and  moral  constitution  marries  the  woman 
he  loves,  her  age  being  not  under  twenty 
and  not  over  twenty-five,  her  health  per- 
fect and  her  feelings  in  accord  with  his,  the 
pair  have  begun  life  under  ideal  conditions, 
they  are  fulfilling  the  intentions  of  Nature 
in  her  own  way  and  she  will  take  care  of 
them  and  their  offspring. 

A  similarity  in  tastes  is  presupposed,  as 
this  is  usually  the  cause  of  attraction  in  the 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY          185 

first  place,  and  as  the  years  go  on  there 
will  necessarily  be  a  gradual  conforming  to 
the  preferences  of  the  other  that  will  re- 
sult through  middle  life  and  in  old  age  in 
a  serene  and  beautiful  satisfaction  in  each 
other's  society. 

In  the  selection  of  a  life-partner,  if  all 
other  qualifications  would  seem  to  point  to- 
wards the  advisability  of  marriage,  a  very 
good  test  is  the  consideration  whether  he 
or  she  rouses,  stimulates,  what  is  best  and 
highest;  not,  necessarily,  what  is  religious — 
as  religion  is  thought  of  today,  —  but  the 
grandest,  the  noblest,  intellectually,  as  well 
as  spiritually.  Sense  pleasures  soon  fade 
unillumined  by  the  mind  and  the  imagina- 
tion. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  in  a  volume  that 
is  one  long  plea  for  love,  that  endeavors 
to  show  not  only  its  high  office  but  its  nec- 
essity to  the  greatness  and  grandeur  of  life 
and  the  health  and  happiness  of  the  race, 
to  argue  that  marriage  without  love  is  not 
only  foolish  but  criminal.  A  deep,  strong 
passionate  love,  combined  with  reasonable 
good  sense  is  absolutely  essential  to  wise 
and  satisfactory  marriage. 

It  is  taken   for   granted  that    our   young 


1 86  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

people  understand  that  the  brain  and  the  im- 
agination as  well  as  the  emotions  are  stim- 
ulated temporarily  by  even  a  passing  sex- 
attraction;  the  religious  man,  so  worked 
upon,  will  find  himself  actuated  apparently 
by  an  excessive  fervor  and  vehemence  of 
holiness.  As  in  the  case  of  Hall  Caine's 
"Christian"  a  man  may  even  deem  himself 
actuated  by  an  inspiration  and  spiritual  in- 
tention when  actually  he  is  in  the  grasp  of 
an  earth-born  passion.  The  religious  and 
the  sexual  are  closely  interwoven,  though 
such  an  idea  may  be  scouted  by  the  ordi- 
nary parson  and  his  followers.  The  notice- 
able increase  in  families  after  a  period  of 
religious  revival  has  impressed  upon  the  ob- 
servation of  physicians  the  connection  of 
these  two  elemental  instincts  in  human 
nature;  and  the  situation  so  forcibly  set 
forth  in  that  remarkable  book:  "The  Silence 
of  Dean  Maitland,"  the  possibility  of  an 
austere  religious  life  existing  at  the  same 
time  as,  and  almost  becoming  identical  with 
sexual  sin  is  not  incredible  to  the  observ- 
ing. As  an  illustration  of  how  deeply  mis- 
taken as  to  the  origin  of  religious  fervor  a 
youthful  mind  may  be  it  is  interesting  to 
note  the  mental  condition  of  a  devout  and 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY    1 87 

pure  young  girl  who  made  a  practice  of 
relating  her  religious  experiences  in  her 
diary.  Here  is  a  portion  of  one  entry: 

"I  went  to  bed  with  such  a  swelling  of 
all  the  organs  that  I  was  dull  and,  as  it 
were  stupified.  I  gently  kissed,  like  a  little 
dog  that  is  beaten,  the  hand  of  my  Master; 
and  then,  as  is  my  custom  on  every  occasion 
of  danger,  I  looked  on  that  dear  Master 
with  a  burning  gaze  of  love  and  trustful- 
ness, and  going  quite  out  of  my  own  hate- 
ful personality,  I  reposed  in  Him  all  my 
true  life,  so  that  I  went  to  sleep  in  conse- 
quence of  this  practical  death,  and  at  once 
I  was  no  more  conscious  of  myself  than  I 
should  have  been  had  I  died  outright.  I 
awoke  for  a  moment  in  the  night,  but,  as 
I  was  no  better,  I  took  refuge  again  in  my 
dear  Master 

"I  meditated  on  the  meditations  of  Saint 
Francois  de  Sales  on  the  Song  of  Songs  at 
my  morning  prayer.  One  night,  therefore, 
while  wide  awake,  I  felt  myself  in  suspense 
in  the  midst  of  all  my  enjoyments,  and  a- 
waiting,  with  a  sort  of  terror,  what  the  Lord 
would  say.  I  saw  Him  most  vividly  as  He 

is  described  in  the  Song  of  Songs 

He  lay  down  near  me,  put  His  feet  on  my 


1 88  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

feet,  laid  His  hand  on  mine  and  enlarged  His 
thorny  crown  where  He  pressed  His  head 
to  mine;  then,  while  giving  me  a  lively 
sense  of  the  pains  of  His  nails  and  His 
thorns,  touching  my  lips  with  His  own,  and 
giving  me  the  divinest  kiss  of  a  divine 
spouse,  he  breathed  into  my  mouth  a  de- 
licious breath  which,  pouring  over  my  whole 
being  a  refreshing  vigor,  rejoiced  it  all  over 
with  an  incomparable  thrill,  and  won  it  for 
him  without  reserve."* 

If  the  experience  of  the  specialist  in 
nervous  deseases  who  told  the  writer  that 
in  his  large  and  varied  experience  he  had 
found  that  more  moral  catastrophes  were 
traceable  to  young  people  going  to  evening 
church  together  than  by  their  going  to  dances 
together,  can  be  corroborated  by  other  prac- 
titioners and  scientific  thinkers,  there  is 
ground  for  very  serious  thought  and  care 
on  the  part  of  moral  and  spiritual  teachers 
in  this  connection.  It  is  because  self-de- 
ception is  so  easy  where  the  senses  are  con- 
cerned that  it  is  wise  to  note  carefully 
whether  the  reforming  or  exalting  influence 
of  the  loved  one  is  an  enduring,  permanent 
and  dominant  one. 


*Ribot,  "Heredity." 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY  189 

While  advocating  early  marriage,  I  am 
well  aware  of  the  reasonableness  of  the 
plea  of  young  men  that  they  cannot  afford 
to  marry,  that  girls  expect  too  much  now- 
a-days.  At  the  same  time  this  condition  of 
things  offers  a  test  of  the  depth  and  reality 
of  reciprocal  affection  which  should  be  of 
infinite  value.  To  lay  bare  his  financial  con- 
dition to  the  woman  he  loves,  and  ask  her 
to  share  the  comparatively  humble  position 
which  he  has  to  offer,  at  the  same  time 
firmly  stating  his  intention  never  to  run  into 
debt,  nor  be  guided  by  desire  of  display, — 
such  a  declaration  tenderly  and  lovingly 
given  would  soon  prove  the  real  nature  of 
the  feeling  entertained. 

In  the  matter  of  finance,  a  true  wife  will 
realize  that  her  part  is  to  save  as  well  as 
to  spend;  that  it  is  a  serious  reflection  up- 
on her  class  that  men  are  able  to  point  to 
the  day-laborer  and  say:  "In  that  station 
in  life  a  wife  is  an  economy,  but  it  is  far 
otherwise  with  us.'1  She  will  feel  that  it 
is  her  duty,  with  her  natural  shrewdness 
and  intuitive  perception,  to  aid  her  husband 
in  times  of  business  doubt  or  difficulty,  and 
in  all  cases  to  frame  her  expenditure  ac- 
cording to  his  income. 


190  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

A  man  who  is  able  to  bring  a  business 
difficulty  home  to  his  wife  and  know  that 
he  can  expect  an  intelligent  interest  has  an 
unpaid  confidential  clerk  whom  no  money 
can  hire. 

It  is  a  wonderful  fact  that  without  any 
preparation  for  or  knowledge  of  business,  a 
woman's  intuitive  thought  will  often  solve 
a  problem  or  smooth  out  a  difficulty  that 
has  defied  a  man's  power  of  decision  and 
racked  his  brain  for  days.  In  any  case,  the 
mere  fact  of  talking  the  matter  over  to  a 
sympathetic,  interested  woman  listener,  will 
often  relieve  the  pressure  of  care  and  clear 
away  difficulties.  To  discuss  a  business  ques- 
tion with  another  man,  in  business  hours, 
is  often  unproductive  and  sometimes  dan- 
gerous; his  interests  are  of  a  personal  char- 
acter and,  if  scrupulous,  are  not  likely  to  be 
sympathetic.  With  husband  and  wife,  the 
interests  are  identical  and  advice  whole- 
souled.  A  woman's  logical  judgment  may 
often  be  at  fault,  her  intuitive  judgment  but 
rarely;  and  he  is  a  wise  man  who  realizes 
and  acts  upon  this  fact. 

Enforced  celibacy  is  a  perversion  of  na- 
ture and  unless  it  also  means  chastity  is  a 
revolting  thing.  The  man  who  declines  to 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY          191 

incur  the  responsibility  of  matrimony  and 
then  spends  his  evening  in  a  brothel,  is,  if 
he  understands  nature's  laws  and  penalties, 
a  madman  without  a  madman's  excuse.  The 
spectacle  of  sweet,  tender,  capable,  so-called 
"old  maids,"  women  suited  for  wifehood 
and  maternity,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
army  of  wretched  prostitutes  on  the  other 
argues  a  serious  blunder  in  economics,  a- 
side  from  its  moral  aspect. 

Voluntary  celibacy,  for  a  time,  or  in  some 
cases  for  life,  is  often  necessary.  No  man 
who  is  half  a  man  in  self-restraint  and  a 
regard  for  the  good  of  his  kind,  will  run 
the  risk  of  handing  on  dementia  or  acute 
disease;  a  case  of  this  kind  calls  for  sincere 
sympathy  though  inexorable  judgment. 
There  is  nothing  that  remains  for  such  a 
man  or  woman  but  the  deliberate  turning 
of  the  sexual  impulse  into  some  wide  chan- 
nel of  philanthrophy,  or  of  mental  achieve- 
ment. 

That  such  transformation  has  been  volun- 
tarily accomplished  in  the  interest  of  science 
and  the  arts  as  well  known,  Kant,  the  Phil- 
osopher, Swedenborg,  the  Mystic,  Descartes, 
the  Metaphysician,  Newton  and  Leibnitz, 
the  Scientists,  are  a  few  instances  of  volun- 


192  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

tary  celibacy  that  the  great  creative  faculty 
might  be  turned  from  physical  into  definite 
mental  and  scientific  productions. 

Mendelssohn,  Beethoven,  Rossini,  Handel, 
and  Myerbeer,  were  unmarried;  with  them 
the  grand,  yet  deviable  sex-impulse  was 
used  to  produce  musical  creations  that  will 
outlive  any  children  of  the  flesh  that  might 
have  been  born  to  them. 

A  striking  example  of  what  may  be  ac- 
complished by  the  voluntary  transmutation 
of  the  physical  into  the  altruistic  impulse, 
of  the  relinquishing  of  the  natural  desire  for 
personal  offspring  in  order  to  embrace  with 
great  and  conquering  sympathies  the  vast 
army  of  the  suffering  and  the  sinning  we 
see  in  our  woman  reformer  passed  but  a 
few  years  ago  out  of  the  sights  and  sounds 
of  sense,  Frances  Willard. 

A  curious  yet  easily  comprehended  case 
in  this  connection  was  told  to  the  writer  by 
a  prominent  physician  of  New  York  City. 

"I  knew  a  girl"  he  said  "in  the  early  days 
of  my  practice  who  was  interesting  to  me 
on  account  of  her  freely-expressed  and  evi- 
dently genuine  desire  for  mother-hood,  in 
the  anticipated  marriage  future. 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY          193 

"I  don't  care  about  men  very  much,"  she 
said  to  me,  'but  I  long  for  children." 

She  married  and  moved  to  another  place; 
I  was  curious  to  know  how  she  had  fared, 
and  some  two  years  afterwards  visited  her 
new  home.  I  found  a  faded  nervous  wreck 
of  the  woman  I  had  known.  She  avoided 
all  reference  to  her  husband  and  I  saw  plain- 
ly that  she  was  too  proud  or  too  loyal  to 
tell  me  the  truth.  I  commented  upon  her 
childless  condition  and  she  turned  her  head 
away  and  said:  "I  do  not  want  children,  I 
thank  Heaven  every  day  that  I  have  none." 

"Oh,  doctor,"  exclaimed  an  interested  list- 
ener to  the  story:  "how  did  it  end?  What 
did  she  do  with  that  great  maternal  intinct, 
what  did  she  make  of  it?" 

"Nothing,  alas,''  he  said,  "she  was  not  an 
intellectual  woman,  and  she  did  not  under- 
stand these  things;  she  only  knew  that  her 
life  was  spoiled,  her  powers  and  desires 
thwarted;  and  the  last  time  I  saw  her,  she 
was  a  confirmed  victim  of  the  cocaine  habit. 
When  women  are  made  acquainted  with 
the  meaning  of  these  things  by  early,  wise 
instruction,  then  may  we  hope  for  the  re- 
generation of  society." 

A  chaste  and  voluntary  celibacy  is  pos- 


194  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

sible,  we  know;  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  it  is  not  in  nature's  plan,  and  that  only 
exceptional  powers  of  mind  and  will  can 
justify  it  after  maturity  is  reached. 

As  a  single  standard  of  morals  for  men 
and  women  is  the  only  reasonable  founda- 
tion on  which  to  stand,  and  as  women, 
properly  constituted,  as  well  as  men  are  en- 
dowed with  strong  physical  needs,  it  follows 
that  early  marriage  is  both  natural  and  wise. 
It  is  a  shame  to  any  country  to  see  un- 
married women  with  gray  hair  eking  out  a 
scanty  lifelihood,  while  the  keepers  of  houses 
of  prostitution  wax  fat  on  the  profits  of  their 
unholy  trade. 

Custom  blinds  the  sight  and  hardens  the 
heart  of  the  men  and  women  ^of  our  land. 
We  see  disease  and  iniquity  walking  our 
streets  nightly,  threatening  the  lives  of  our 
children,  and  the  happiness  of  our  homes, 
and  we  shrug  our  shoulders  and  talk  about 
a  "necessary  evil." 

If  a  plague  visited  one  of  our  great  cities, 
how  eager  we  would  be  to  stamp  it  out; 
and  yet  a  deadlier  disease  lurks  in  the  midst 
of  us,  and  we  call  it  "a  necessary  evil." 

Looking  at  the  matter  from  a  purely  eth- 
ical standpoint,  does  it  seem  fair  that  the 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY  195 

necessity  of  a  man  should  mean  the  degra- 
dation of  a  woman  ?  Does  it  seem  probable 
that  the  Almighty  Designer  of  life  should 
give  us  a  physical  law  that  necessitates 
the  breaking  of  a  moral  one? 

Again,  if  the  prostitute  is  following  a 
profession  that  is  necessary  to  the  health 
of  men,  and  if,  as  is  often  urged,  she  is 
thereby  protecting  the  innocence  and  purity 
of  our  young  sisters  and  .'daughters,  why  is 
she  not  honored  instead  of  scorned?  We 
must  be  logical. 

The  opinion  of  physicians  as  to  the  phys- 
iological result  of  continence  is  varied. 
While  there  are  those  who  advocate  indulg- 
ence without  regard  to  the  moral  aspect  of 
the  question,  and  prescribe  intercourse  as  a 
hygenic  measure,  there  are  many  others 
who  take  an  opposite  view  of  the  matter. 
So  well  known  an  authority  as  Dr.  Acton 
says:  "My  own  opinion  is,  that  where,  as 
is  the  case  with  a  very  large  number,  a 
young  man's  education  has  been  properly 
watched,  and  his  mind  has  not  been  de- 
based by  vile  practices,  it  is  usually  a  com- 
paratively easy  task  to  be  continent,  and 
requires  no  great  or  extraordinary  effort, 
and  every  year  of  voluntary  effort  at  chastity 


196  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

renders  the  task  easier  by  force  of  habit. 
That  it  is  an  easy  task  to  be  continent  is 
only  true  of  those  who  have  been  compar- 
atively pure  in  thought  word  and  deed." 
And  again,  referring  to  cases  of  so-called 
suffering  from  continence  he  continues:  "If, 
instead  of  gratifying  his  inclinations,  the 
young  patient  should  consult  a  conscientious 
medical  man,  he  would  probably  be  told, 
and  the  result  would  soon  prove  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  advice  given,  that  low  diet, 
partial  abstinence  from  meat  and  stimulants, 
aperient  medicine,  if  necessary,  gymnastic 
exercises  and  self-control  will  most  effective- 
ly relieve  the  symptoms.  The  truth  is  that 
most  people  and  especially  the  young,  are 
often  only  too  glad  to  find  an  excuse  for 
indulging  their  animal  propensities,  instead 
of  endeavoring  to  regulate  or  control  them. 
I  have  not  a  doubt  that  this  sexual  suffer- 
ing is  often  much  exaggerated,  if  not  in- 
vented, for  this  purpose." 

Dr.  Austin  Flint,  the  elder,  whom  no  one 
will  accuse  of  being  influenced  by  sentimen- 
tal or  religious  prejudice,  gives  it  as  his 
opinion  and  the  result  of  his  experience 
that  chastity  is  not  and  cannot  be  a  cause 
of  disease.  He  says:  "The  physician  is 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY          197 

sometimes  appealed  to  by  unmarried  per- 
sons, and  married  persons  debarred,  for 
various  reasons,  from  maritial  intercourse, 
to  sanction  illicit  indulgence,  on  the  score 
of  health.  It  would  be  out  of  place  to  con- 
sider here  this  topic  in  its  moral  aspects, 
but  they  are  by  no  means  to  be  lost  sight 
of  by  the  physician.  Irrespective  of  these, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  inactivity  of  the 
generative  organs  can  never  be  considered 
as  a  cause  of  disease,  and  also  of  the  fact 
that  as  a  rule,  the  functional  power  of  these 
organs  is  not  lost  by  being  held  in  abeyance, 
he  is  not  justified  in  giving  his  professional 
approval  to  fornication  as  a  hygienic  meas- 
ure."* 

To  one  who  looks  at  the  matter  from  an 
impersonal  standpoint  the  contention  that 
the  existence  of  a  class  of  fallen  women 
furnishes  a  safeguard  for  the  purity  of  our 
sisters  and  daughters  is  a  disgraceful  argu- 
ment. Why  should  another  woman's  daugh- 
ter be  sacrificed  to  protect  mine?  And  if 
it  is  necessary  that  a  woman's  virtue  be  sac- 
rificed, if  it  is  essential  to  man's  health  that 
some  woman  be  disgraced  and  outlawed 

*From  "A  Treatise  on  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medi- 
cine for  the  use  of  Practitioners  and  Students  of  Medicine,"  by 
Austin  Flint.  Henry  C.  Lea,  Phila.,  1873. 


198  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

why  not  my  daughter  as  well  as  another's? 
By  what  right  should  one  woman's  wealth, 
virtue  or  reputation  be  considered  rather 
than  another's?* 

Disregarding  the  moral  aspect  of  the  ques- 
tion, we  must  ask  of  pure  men,  are  you 
willing  that  your  babies  run  the  chance  of 
contracting  a  loathsome  and  incurable  com- 
plaint from  the  chance  kiss  of  a  servant; 
your  innocent  wives  run  the  chance  of  be- 
coming infected  in  consequence  of  a  mom- 
ent spend  in  a  public  toilet-room,  your  own 
bodies  become  a  prey  to  untold  horror  from 
the  touch  of  a  loose-living  man  ?  Truly  we 
are  strangely  constituted  if  we  are  content 
to  permit  this  "necessary  evil"  while  any 
effort  on  our  part  can  prevent  or  lessen  it. 

There  is  a  prevalent  idea  that  the  prosti- 
tute chooses  her  profession  from  an  inher- 
ent voluptousness,  because  that  is  the  life 
that  alone  is  attractive  to  her.  This  is  the 
case  with  a  very  small  minority.  It  is  a 
question  of  industrial  distress,  of  supply  and 
demand;  it  is  the  question  of  man's  unbridled 
licentiousness  and  woman's  need  of  subsis- 
tence. The  horrible  army  is  recruited  largely 

*See  Helen  Gardeners   "Pray  you,  Sir,  Whose  Daughter?" 
Fenno  &  Co.  New  York. 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY    199 

from  the  ranks  of  the  servant,  seamstress, 
and  dressmaker,  the  two  latter  classes  con- 
taining many  women  who  have  struggled 
vainly  to  keep  body  and  soul  together  on 
the  pittance  they  are  able  to  earn.  Bad 
food,  arduous  labor,  and  a  total  lack  of  reas- 
onable amusement,  are  not  conducive  to 
moral  strength;  the  brave  go  on  struggling, 
and  starve;  the  weak  give  up  the  fight,  and 
choose  a  few  years  of  ignominy  and  idle- 
ness before  they  fall  into  early  and  dishon- 
ored graves.  If  a  reasonable  means  of  hon- 
est subsistance  were  offered  to  all  unsup- 
ported women  today,  and  if  men  cared  to 
be  purer,  there  would  not  be  a  hundred 
prostitutes  where  now  there  are  a  thousand 
to  be  a  menace  and  a  shame  to  our  civil- 
ization. 

It  is  a  disgrace  to  our  latter-day  living 
that  the  young  women  who  are  striving  to 
earn  their  living  in  our  large  cities  should 
be  perpetually  fighting  a  moral  battle  be- 
cause of  insufficient  salary  and  contiguous 
temptation.  In  more  than  one  of  the  large 
departmental  stores  in  New  York  City, 
when  a  young  girl  expostulates  at  the  ne- 
cessity of  living  upon  the  sum  of  $5.  a 
week,  she  is  given  to  understand  that  if  she 


200  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

considers  her  salary  insufficient  she  will 
probably  find  some  young  man  in  the  store 
who  will  act  as  her  friend  and  supplement 
her  income. 

Picture  a  young  woman  standing  all  day 
long  behind  a  counter,  attending  to  the 
wants  of  customers  from  daylight  to  dark,  in 
an  attitude  that  is  most  trying  to  a  woman 
and  most  conducive  to  feminine  weakness, 
and  remember  that,  in  an  average  case,  she 
has  but  72  cents  a  day  to  pay  for  room, 
food,  dress,  carfare,  and  any  pleasure  that 
her  poor  little  soul  may  crave. 

The  Consumer's  League  is  striving  hard 
to  better  conditions,  to  require  the  obvious 
justice  that  a  man  and  a  woman  doing  the 
same  work  and  observing  the  same  hours 
shall  receive  the  same  remuneration;  that  ex- 
tra money  shall  be  paid  for  extra  time,  and 
so  forth.  We  would  urge  upon  thinking 
women,  who  have  realized  the  fact  that  all 
industrial  conditions  are  regulated  by  the 
consumer,  to  join  this  band  of  noble  women 
and  help  on  their  work.  In  passing,  it  may 
be  well  to  remind  the  women  of  our  country 
that  when  they  hunt  about  the  shops  for 
bargains,  and  finally  purchase  a  39  cent  shirt 
waist  or  a  79  cent  child's  suit  they  are  sup- 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY          2OI 

porting,  maintaining,  and  encouraging  the 
sweat  shop,  that  blot  on  our  economic  and 
social  conditions. 

It  requires  no  religious  fanatic  to  point 
out  the  deadly  nature  of  the  evil  of  prosti- 
tution; common  sense  and  a  decent  regard 
for  moral  law  and  physical  well-being  are 
all  that  is  needed.  Let  woman  adopt  a  high 
standard,  and  man  must  conform  to  it;  if 
women  universally  require  purity  in  a  hus- 
band it  will  perforce  be  granted.  Let  phy- 
sicians tell  the  truth;  let  them  cease  their 
lying  fables,  and  speak  without  fear  of  con- 
sequence, and  a  glad  posterity  will  be  the 
result. 

It  is  not  our  pleasure  to  dwell  upon  hor- 
rors. Happily  for  our  race  and  for  our 
homes  there  are  high-souled  men  and  wom- 
en, pure  men  and  boys,  maidens  and  matrons 
of  sweet  innocence  and  wholesome  knowl- 
edge. To  the  young  man  who  has  passed 
physically  unscathed  through  the  stormy 
years  of  adolescence  and  early  manhood, 
we  owe  glad  recognition;  mentally  un- 
scathed, in  these  days  of  evil  communication 
and  filthy  jesting,  he  can  scarcely  hope  to 
be.  Let  him  inaugurate  a  new  practice  in 
this  regard,  set  his  face  strenuously  against 


202  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

the  recital  of  any  tales  which  he  would  not 
allow  by  his  own  fireside,  comment  with 
an  indignant  protest  instead  of  a  silent  ac- 
quiescence, and  much  may  be  accomplished 
in  the  direction  of  social  reformation. 

Stimulate  the  imagination  and  the  body 
will  usually  respond;  look  after  the  mind, 
guard  it  from  thoughts  of  evil,  and  there 
will  be  small  question  of  fighting  the  flesh. 

An  unwedded  life  can  only  be  justified 
in  a  mature  man  today,  as  in  men  and 
women  in  the  future  of  mutual  frankness 
and  mutual  choice,  by  extraordinary  mental 
production.  The  world  will  always  have  its 
men  and  women  of  genius,  'its  exceptional 
ones,  whose  disregard  of  law  may  be  tolera- 
ted by  her;  but  to  all  others  she  is  inex- 
orable. 

And  if  the  heredity-weighted  individual, 
clinging  to  earth's  physical  joys,  is  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  unbending  decision 
of  life-long  celibacy  as  punishment  for  the 
sins  of  one  who  is  now  "a  mouldering  bag 
of  bones  in  a  coffin''  as  Mr.  Conan  Doyle 
puts  it  in  one  of  his  striking  "Round  the 
Red  Lamp"  stories,  such  a  one  can  but 
quietly  accept  his  doom,  and  bow  to  the 
power  that  is  greater  than  he.  A  harsh  sen- 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY         203 

tence,  truly,  yet  the  inevitable  result  of  the 
law  under  which  we  exist  today.  Can  we 
not  conceive  of  ourselves  as  able  to  rise 
above  the  personal  in  our  dealings  with  life, 
to  look  to  the  good  of  the  greater  number 
rather  than  to  individual  joy,  to  recognize 
our  personal  individuality  as  but  one  note, 
and  by  our  effort  a  tuneful  one,  in  the  vast 
harmony  of  life? 

The  ignorance,  carelessness  and  diffidence 
of  parents  and  family  physicians  cause 
many  of  our  boys  to  fall  victims  to  the  in- 
geniously-worded advertisements  of  the 
quack.  Frightened  by  nocturnal  emissions 
and  anxious  to  understand  the  cause,  they 
readily  accept  the  alarming  suggestions  of 
money-making  charlatans,  and  consume  nos- 
trums in  secret  to  avoid  the  condition  of 
impotence  and  disease  that  has  been  pic- 
tured to  them.  Not  only  so,  but  the  very 
fear  that  possesses  them  contributes  to  ag- 
gravate the  condition,  and  causes,  in  many 
cases,  melancholy  and  misery.  What  un- 
necessary suffering,  when  a  few  healthy 
words  from  a  sensible  father,  an  explana- 
tion of  nature's  methods  of  periodic  relief, 
a  reassurance  as  to  the  harmlessness  of  these 
occasional  occurrances,  with  a  word  of  ad- 


204  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

vice  as  to  a  healthy  condition  of  mind  and 
body  lest  they  become  unduly  frequent  would 
set  the  boy's  mind  at  rest  and  prevent  him 
from  filling  his  stomach  with  harmful  drugs. 

Our  boys  have  enough  to  fight  in  their 
own  natures,  during  the  trying  period  of  ad- 
olescence; it  will  be  to  our  eternal  shame 
if  we  allow  them  to  fight  in  fear  and  ig- 
norance; with  all  our  help  and  wisdom  we 
cannot  take  away  the  tremendous  impulses 
of  puberty,  we  would  not  if  we  could.  But 
to  impart  the  truth  is  our  direct  duty,  to 
give  the  needed  advice  and  direction  should 
be  our  greatest  joy.  How  is  it  then  that 
young  men  are  left  to  glean  their  informa- 
tion as  to  the  use  of  the  sexual  function 
through  illicit  practical  experience  and  the 
careless  advice  of  boon  companions,  or  be 
driven,  in  sensitive  fear,  to  the  sensational 
advertisement  and  the  quack  practitioner. 

A  damnable  trade  in  the  innocence  of  our 
young  men  is  prosecuted  in  secret;  printed 
and  typewritten  books  are  disseminated 
among  school  boys  that  are  calculated  to 
do  untold  harm.  In  spite  of  the  vigorous 
efforts  of  the  Society  for  the  Suppression 
of  Vice  this  traffic  still  continues,  its  per- 
petrators are  lost  to  all  sense  of  decency  or 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  CELIBACY          205 

respect  for  innocence;  and  the  promulgation 
of  this  vicious  literature  is  almost  invari- 
ably followed  by  offers  of  appliances  for 
immoral  purposes. 

A  typewritten  manuscript  which  was 
handed  to  the  writer  a  few  months  ago  had 
been  taken  from  a  lad  of  seventeen.  It 
was  the  most  thoroughly  demoralizing  and 
seductive  matter  that  can  be  imagined.  It 
would  be  impossible  for  any  young  man  to 
read  such  pages  and  to  retain  his  virtue.  It 
had  been  written,  evidently,  by  a  man  of 
experience,  and  power  of  expression;  it  was 
not  crude,  nor  vulgar,  in  the  sense  of  being 
repulsive;  therein  lay  its  awful  attractive- 
ness to  the  emotional  nature  of  the  young; 
and  the  scenes  that  it  depicted  were  inten- 
tional exaggerations  of  possible  intimacies 
calculated  to  rouse,  in  the  ignorant  and 
easily  stimulated  imagination  of  youth,  pas- 
sions that  must  find  an  outlet  in  some  form 
of  sexual  sin. 

Those  who  have  money  and  time  should 
give  all  the  aid  possible  to  the  over-worked 
and  tireless  guardians  of  the  purity  of  our 
young  people;  that  this  abominable  indus- 
try may  be  speedily  checked,  and  our  sons 
aided  in  the  path  of  rectitude. 


2O6  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

It  is  not  generally  known  to  women  that 
the  laws  with  regard  to  the  protection  of 
girlhood  in  the  majority  of  our  states  are 
not  such  as  should  appeal  to  the  justice  or 
morality  of  thinking  people.  The  facts  are 
as  follows:  a  girl  is  held  by  the  law  as 
able  to  understand  the  significance  of  the 
act,  and  to  willingly  consent  to  her  own 
seduction  at  16  years  of  age  in  Ala.,  15  in 
Iowa  and  Neb.;  14  in  Ariz.,  Conn.,  Ga., 
111.,  Ind.,  N.  Mex.,  Vt.,  Wis.;  12  in  Ind.Ter. 
(for  Indians),  Ky.,  Nev.,  Va.,  W.  Va.,  10 
Miss.,  N.  C.,  and  S.  C.  This  means  that  a 
man  who,  in  any  manner,  has  compassed 
the  seduction  of  a  girl,  is  in  the  eyes  of  the 
law  unblamable  if  the  girl  is  of  the  age  as 
given  above;  children  of  ten,  twelve  or 
fourteen  years  being  presumed  by  law  to 
be  capable  of  protecting  their  own  innocence 
and  of  duly  estimating  the  cost  of  their  ac- 
tions in  regard  to  their  reputations  and  fu- 
ture. The  disgraceful  injustice  of  such  an 
assumption  should  be  evident  to  all,  and,  be- 
ing evident,  there  should  be  such  definite 
and  concerted  action  as  should  result  in  the 
raising  of  the  age  of  consent  in  all  states  to 
that  of  eighteen  years,  as  is  the  law  in  New 
York,  Col.,  Fla.,  Idaho,  Mich.,  N.  J.,  Utah, 
Wash.,  and  Wyo. 


MARRIAGE  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL 


CHAPTER    IX 


E  have  sacrificed  a  good  deal 
in  the  attainment  of  our  twen- 
tieth century  civilization;  we 
have  multiplied  laws  and  for- 
gotten, perhaps,  something  of 
a  natural  honor  and  chivalry; 
we  have  won  gold  and  lost  the  appreciation 
of  the  things  that  gold  can  purchase;  we 
have  surfeited  ourselves  with  physical 
sweets  and  lost  the  old  savage  delight  in 
them;  we  have  reared  mighty  temples  and 
sacrificed  ourselves  "mid  their  ponderous 
vaults  and  arches." 

Laying  aside  all  personal  prejudice  in 
favor  of  existing  ordinances,  and  the  nat- 
ural, because  wished-for  content  with  the 
thing  that  we  have,  as  a  nation  and  a  world, 
brought  upon  ourselves,  let  us  bravely  face 
the  question:  "Is  marriage,  as  it  is  today, 
albeit  an  improvement  on  the  unions  of  the 
past,  a  great,  a  satisfactory,  a  beautiful 
thing?" 


2O8  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

We  are  obliged  to  admit  that  it  is  not. 

The  happy  marriage,  the  union  for  life 
of  a  man  and  a  woman  who  are  physically 
and  mentally  fitted  for  each  other,  the  per- 
fect content  of  absolute  comradeship,  and 
understanding  intercourse;  the  union  that  is 
without  fault-finding  and  personal  recrimina- 
tion; the  union  that  means  perfect  satisfac- 
tion for  the  two  who  compose  it,  in  an  ex- 
ception that  usually  calls  for  wondering 
surprise  and  envy. 

The  cause  of  this  state  of  things  is  not 
far  to  seek.  Young  men  and  women,  un- 
prepared by  experience  or  instruction  to  dis- 
tinguish the  false  from  the  true,  almost 
ignorant  of  their  own  needs  and  possibilities, 
take  a  marriage  partner  with  as  little  thought 
as  if  the  matter  were  a  play.  With  the 
young  man  the  passion  of  the  time  throws 
a  glamour  over  such  important  defects  in 
the  loved  one  as  physical  ill-health,  men- 
tal weakness  and  frivolity,  and  a  narrow 
view  of  life;  with  the  girl,  over  a  selfish 
usurping  nature,  a  pleasure-loving,  easy 
morality,  or  utter  incompatibility  of  tastes 
and  thought.  They  enter  upon  a  condition 
which  requires  the  tenderest  tact,  a  supreme 
unselfishness,  the  most  careful  study  of  con- 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       209 

ditions,  with  no  better  equipment,  in  many 
cases,  than  a  passing  sex-attraction  that 
wanes  with  the  honeymoon. 

The  agony  of  disenchantment,  the  shat- 
tering of  the  idol  whose  perfections  had 
been  but  creations  of  the  imagination,  the 
awful  realization  that  the  deed  is  irrevoc- 
able, these  are  the  things  that  mark  the 
faces  of  women  with  unyouthful  lines,  that 
drive  a  man  to  sullen  acceptance  of  an  un- 
interesting situation,  and  to  surruptitious 
excursions,  as  the  years  go  by,  in  search 
of  something  more  congenial.  The  unfor- 
tunate pair,  seeing  no  escape  from  a  condi- 
tion which,  as  law  and  society  remind  them, 
they  have  brought  upon  themselves,  and 
must  perforce,  submit  to,  settle  down  into 
a  dull,  monotonous  round  of  life  together, 
the  woman  a  passive  slave  to  circumstances, 
and  a  tamed  animal  in  a  physical  sense,  and 
the  man  with  the  old  property  feeling  the 
only  tie  left  to  bind  him  to  the  woman  he 
desired  in  the  old  days;  still  using  her  as 
a  means  of  physical  gratification,  but  other- 
wise taking  little  or  no  interest  in  the  one 
who  should  have  been  to  him  the  comple- 
tion of  his  existence,  and  the  joy  of  his  days. 

This  is  the  black  side  of  the  picture,  but 


2IO  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

in  many  cases  it  is  not  a  false  one.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  children,  if  such  come, 
are  a  bond  of  sympathy  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  and  parents  who  have  become 
utterly  indifferent  to  each  other  personally, 
have,  with  the  interests  of  the  children  as 
a  common  ground  of  alliance,  accepted 
the  situation  as  gracefully  as  circumstances 
would  allow,  and  maintained  an  outward 
appearance  of  contentment  with  a  mental 
shrug  of  the  shoulders  at  Fate. 

Perfection  is  a  thing  as  yet  impossible 
to  the  sons  and  daughters  of  men,  and  if 
the  fact  were  realized  by  the  youth  of  the 
day,  it  would  save  many  bruising  falls  from 
the  heights.  To  expect  faults  and  imper- 
fections, a  dash  of  brutality,  perchance,  on 
the  one  side,  a  touch  of  feminine  vanity  on 
the  other,  or  even  things  more  significant 
and  serious,  would  be  wise;  thorough 
knowledge  of  human  nature  would  pre- 
vent really  inconspicuous  details  of  char- 
acter from  assuming  the  importance  of  a 
tragedy. 

I  see  a  mental  picture  of  a  four-weeks' 
bride;  she  stands  gazing  at  herself  in  the 
mirror,  a  reflection  of  a  woman  with  a 
white  face  and  dark-rimmed  eyes.  She 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       211 

has  not  fled  to  her  room  in  a  passion  of 
rage  that  might  subside  as  quickly  as  it 
came,  she  has  moved  there  slowly,  and  is 
suspiciously  calm.  In  a  moment's  over- 
whelming conviction  of  her  powerlessness, 
and  the  futility  of  speech,  she  clenches 
her  hands,  and  sobs: 

"  O  God,  O  God,  I  have  made  a  mis- 
take ! "  But  there  are  no  tears. 

"  A  mistake ;  but  mistakes  can  be  recti- 
fied." Her  inner  self  speaks. 

But  the  Society  self,  the  soul  of  long- 
established  conventions  answers : 

"Not  such  as  these;  it  was  for  life  that 
you  undertook  this  responsibility." 

"  But  I  did  not  know,  did  not  under- 
stand —  " 

"  No  matter,  you  must  pay  the  penalty." 

"  My  whole  life  is  before  me ;  I  want  a 
mate;  I  want  happiness." 

"You  must  do  without  these.  That  is 
the  consequence  of  your  mistake." 

"  But  he  is  hateful  to  me." 

"  No  matter.  You  have  no  alternative ; 
make  the  best  of  him,  smother  your  am- 
bitions and  desires,  minister  to  his  com- 
fort. Has  he  erred  ?  " 

"No,  no, — oh,  I  am  weary, — he  is  as  he 


212  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

TV  as,  I  suppose,  as  he  will  be  —  God  help 
me  —  always,  always.  But  he  is  not  for 
me.  I  know  it.  I  am  not  for  him.  Must 
we  be  tied  to  each  other  for  ever?" 

"  Till  Death  us  do  part,  till  death  us  do 
part." 

Yet,  says  someone,  the  woman  probably 
settled  down  into  a  good,  every-day  wife, 
much  as  other  wives.  Perhaps;  but  surely 
that  but  intensifies  the  pathos  of  the  situ- 
ation. A  high-souled  woman  reduced  to 
an  automaton,  a  passionate  woman  daily 
subject  to  embraces  that  give  her  no 
pleasure,  that  perhaps  fill  her  with  loath- 
ing, a  mind  which  suitable  comradeship 
and  devoted  love  would  have  made  to 
blossom  as  the  rose,  reduced  to  the  com- 
mon level  of  the  ordinary  lesser  half  of 
the  marriage  total! 

What  do  the  average  inexperienced  young 
man  and  woman  know  of  Love,  the  great, 
the  ideal,  the  thing  that  overtops  and  over- 
powers all  the  other  constituents  of  life, 
that  dawns,  a  mighty  passion,  that  grows, 
a  great  absorbing  power,  that  dwells  eter- 
nally among  the  essential  verities,  the  thing 
that  knows  not  time  nor  distance,  dismay 
nor  death? 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       213 

They  find  each  a  sweet  playmate,  they 
feel  the  sex-impulse  stir  within  them, — 
this  is  love,  they  cry,  let  us  be  united.  And 
so  two  ignorant,  impulsive  young  people, 
with,  perhaps,  not  one  of  the  complemen- 
tal  graces  or  qualifications  for  continued 
intercourse  or  durable  affection  are  tied 
together,  with  merry  friends  and  dignified 
clergy  to  grace  the  ceremony,  and  Fate, 
an  unbidden  guest,  smiling  a  grim  and 
ironical  benediction. 

In  many  cases  when  a  husband  has  given 
just  cause  for  divorce,  and  a  long-suffering 
woman  might,  without  the  fear  of  social 
odium,  free  herself  from  a  hateful  bond, 
the  barrier  of  monetary  dependence  stands 
between  her  and  freedom. 

The  old  stigma  that  attached  itself  to  a 
divorced  person,  even  when  his  or  her  posi- 
tion was  one  of  absolute  innocence,  is 
almost  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  the  old 
argument  for  the  preservation  of  an  intol- 
erable tie  for  the  sake  of  the  children,  has 
today  little  potency.  No  sensible  person 
has  any  feeling  save  one  of  pity,  either  for 
the  guiltless  party  in  a  case  of  divorce,  or  for 
the  children  whose  home  has  been  broken 
up  through  the  moral  weakness  of  a  parent. 


214  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

To  the  conventionally-trained,  average 
man  and  woman  of  society,  Divorce  has 
an  ugly  sound,  there  is  no  question.  And 
yet  may  it  not  be  that  this  argues  a  want 
of  thought  on  our  part,  a  lack  of  apprecia- 
tion of  the  definite  needs  of  the  race? 

No  law  that  has  ever  been  made  can 
justify  the  mental  and  physical  martyrdom 
involved  in  the  living  together  of  a  man 
and  woman  who  are  thoroughly  incompat- 
ible; and  the  sooner  we  alter  the  dictum 
of  society  in  this  regard,  and  make  of  mar- 
riage a  freer,  saner  thing,  the  more  quickly 
shall  we  advance  individually  and  racially. 

True  marriage  can  only  exist  because  of 
a  real,  honest,  healthy,  passionate  love,  the 
desire  for  exclusive  union  with  the  ob- 
ject of  devotion;  it  is,  therefore,  an  absurd 
and  harmful  system  that  would  lower  the 
tone  of  marriage  and  make  of  the  relation 
the  cringing,  hateful,  insufficient  thing  that 
present  laws  and  customs  have  conspired 
to  render  it. 

Is  it  fair  to  punish  two  people  with  life- 
long bondage,  whose  only  crime  has  been 
a  lack  of  experience?  What  do  a  young 
man  and  woman,  especially  if  they  have 
been  pure,  know  of  even  their  -physical 


MARRIAGE  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL   215 

power  to  charm  and  satisfy?  I  would  look 
further  than  the  two  primary  sufferers,  and 
ask,  is  it  wise  in  the  interests  of  the  race 
to  allow  the  procreation  of  children  to  an 
incompatible,  unloving  pair? 

Can  we  not  look  at  this  question  with  a 
single  eye  for  the  good  of  humanity,  for 
the  needs  of  the  race,  for  the  true  devel- 
opment of  the  individual? 

If  monogomy  be  the  highest  and  the  ulti- 
mate in  our  social  system,  and,  ethically 
speaking,  it  would  certainly  seem  so,  are 
the  violators  of  this  law  social  criminals, 
or  is  there  some  error  in  the  present  work- 
ing of  the  system?  This  question  has  an 
obvious  bearing  on  the  subject  we  are  dis- 
cussing. Is  divorce,  the  bugbear  of  the 
churchman,  a  friend  or  a  foe  ?  Is  it  the  in- 
sidious enemy  that  disintegrates  the  home 
or  is  it  the  loosener  of  ties  which  should 
never  have  been  made;  'is  it— and  here  is 
the  point  I  wish  to  make,  inimical  to  the 
well-being  of  possible  offspring,  or  favorable 
to  a  high  character  of  citizenship?  On  the 
one  hand  it  is  obvious,  and  may  readily  be 
conceded  that  the  loss  of  a  parent,  motherly 
care  or  fatherly  interest,  is  a  serious  lack 
in  a  child's  life:  but  the  question  must  be 


2l6  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

faced,  whether  the  motherly  care  or  the 
fatherly  interest,  plus  perpetual  bickerings 
or  unuttered  but  recognized  contempt  or 
dislike,  will  contribute  to  the  ultimate  good 
of  the  child  or  children  in  question.  Not 
only  so — and  here  enters  in  a  fundamental 
and  most  important  consideration — what  of 
the  children  who  are  conceived  and  born 
under  these  conditions?  Are  they  likely  to 
make  upright,  happy,  useful  men  and  wom- 
en, satisfactory  and  well-living  citizens? 

I  continually  have  such  instances  brought 
under  my  notice  as  the  following.  A  wom- 
an— whose  lady-like  mother  (I  may  say  in 
parenthesis)  had  considered  it  indelicate, 
or  been  herself  too  ignorant  to  explain  to 
her  daughter  the  possibility  of  distinguish- 
ing between  a  mere  passing  sex-attraction 
and  the  love  that  will  endure — this  woman 
married  a  man  with  whom  she  was  infatu- 
ated. In  less  than  a  month  she  realized 
that  she  had  made  a  mistake,  that  her  idol 
was  of  the  basest  of  common  clay,  utterly 
unsuited  to  her,  and  uncongenial ;  she  dread- 
ed his  approach,  and  loathed  his  embraces. 
I  would  ask  the  vigorous  opponent  of  di- 
vorce, what  he  would  advise  in  such  a  case 
as  this.  The  cutting  of  a  bond  that  should 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       217 

never  have  been  tied,  or  what  actually  oc- 
curred as  a  result  of  religious  and  social 
pressure;  the  woman  lived  her  life  along- 
side of  the  man  whom  she  despised  and 
hated,  until  death  finally  relieved  her  of  her 
burden.  She  bore  him  several  children,  all 
of  whom  were  abnormal,  one  a  dissipated 
and  irresponsible  blackguard,  one  a  miser- 
able, discontented,  unhappy  girl,  of  no  use 
to  herself  or  anyone  else,  the  other  morally 
oblique  from  his  birth.  Which,  in  such  a 
case  as  this,  presents  an  aspect  of  the 
greater  evil?  I  hear  the  enemy  of  divorce 
suggest  a  third  alternative — a  separation  giv- 
ing to  both  parties  no  right  of  remarriage. 
This  is,  to  my  thinking,  a  pernicious  sub- 
stitute. 

Would  the  man,  think  you,  remain  a  celi- 
bate because  the  law  refused  him  marriage  ? 
It  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  raise  the  ques- 
tion. Is  the  woman  to  be  denied  her  right 
to  maternity,  and  live  a  life  of  loneliness 
because  of  an  error  of  judgment? 

Whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  the  up- 
holders of  this  stern  doctrine,  it  is  to  me 
an  unnatural  and  an  unpractical  one. 

That  woman  might  be  the  most  desirable 
of  mothers,  and  raise  sturdy,  honorable  sons 


2l8  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

and  daughters  to  the  man  she  respected  and 
loved;  and  to  shut  her  out  from  any  such 
possibility  because  of  a  girlish  mistake, 
made  in  consequence,  most  probably,  of 
the  criminal  ignorance  of  her  natural  in- 
structors, seems  to  me  to  be — not  to  con- 
sider the  individual  at  all — a  foolish  and 
wasteful  social  act. 

To  the  careful  student  of  such  matters, 
the  woman  referred  to  committed  an  un- 
justifiable act  in  the  interest  of  social  eco- 
nomics, in  bearing  undesired  children, 
which  were  begotten  in  lust,  presumably, 
and  reared  in  an  atmosphere  of  unrest  and 
discontent. 

No  woman  has  a  right  to  bear  children 
who  are  not  the  offspring  of  love,  and  the 
sooner  that  economic  or  social  pressure  that 
would  tend  to  make  her  commit  such  an 
unjustifiable  social  act  is  removed  the  sooner 
shall  we  have  the  men  and  women,  the 
citizens  of  integrity  and  ability  that  the 
world  needs. 

Granting  the  happy  mating  of  the  two 
individuals,  there  is  yet  much  which  re- 
mains to  be  done,  although  undoubtedly  the 
most  important  thing  is  already  accom- 
plished. A  strong,  passionate,  self-respect- 


MARRIAGE  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL   2 19 

ing  love,  that  has  in  it  the  elements  of  per- 
manence, is  without  question  the  best  and 
most  essential  preparation  for  parenthood. 

On  one  occasion  I  was  asked  the  ques- 
tion— "What  is  Love?"  and  the  questioner 
defied  me  to  intelligently  and  definitely  ex- 
plain it.  It  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  define, 
containing  as  it  does  certain  transcendental 
and  psychological  elements  that  render  it 
too  elusive  for  mere  wording. 

On  the  spur  of  the  moment  I  illustrated  my 
thought  as  to  Love  with  a  pencil  and  paper, 
and  I  here  reproduce  that  idea.  It  is  crudely 
conceived,  but  may  serve  as  a  suggestion. 


Desire  we  share  with  the  other  animals, 
a  mere  physical  hunger,  corresponding  to 
the  hunger  for  food ;  where  the  second  point 
is  reached  we  get  Passion,  which  is  Desire 
plus  elements  of  power  and  beauty  that 
make  of  it  a  grander  and  a  human  thing; 
and  love,  farthest  beyond,  the  ultimate, 
is  desire,  plus  passion,  plus  unselfishness. 


22O  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

Where  the  mighty,  wonderful  passion  sub- 
ordinates self  to  the  object  of  affection,  we 
have  Love,  the  enduring,  the  beautiful,  the 
self-sacrificing,  the  ennobling.  This  love 
should  be  the  starting  point,  the  heritage  of 
every  human  child.  In-so-far  as  it  is  not, 
and  in-so-much  as  a  new  life  lacks  this, 
its  rightful  heritage,  and  is  the  chance  out- 
come of  idleness,  caprice,  or  animality,  in- 
so-far  are  we  false  to  a  trust,  unequal  to 
our  responsibility  and  unfit  for  the  posi- 
tion which  we  recklessly  and  inconsider- 
ately fill.  We  still  have  to  face  that  relic  of 
past  barbarism,  the  sexual  subserviency  of 
woman ;  we  shall  have  it  to  face,  in  some 
form  or  another,  and  to  some  extent,  so 
long  as  woman  is  financially  dependent. 
An  obvious  step  towards  the  evolution  of 
the  fearless,  self-respecting  woman,  is  the 
education  of  girls  to  be  self-supporting,  and 
the  training  in  them  of  sound  physical  or- 
ganisms and  developed  mentality.  Given 
this,  and  some  form  of  maternal  insurance, 
no  woman  would  be  forced  into  a  position 
of  marital  subserviency;  and  a  healthier, 
sturdier,  happier  offspring  would  be  the 
result. 

I  am  not  speaking  in  the  interest  of  the 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL        221 

woman;  it  would  be  more  comfortable  for 
the  woman  to  continue  to  be  a  pet  and  a 
plaything,  to  be  guarded  and  tutored  and 
taken  care  of; — but  such  conditions  are  in- 
imical to  the  best  interests  of  the  race. 
Great  sons  are  not  born  of  subject  mothers, 
and  since,  by  the  law  of  cross  heredity,  the 
sons  are  more  likely  to  inherit  maternal 
characteristics,  it  is  to  the  interest  of  every 
man  to  cultivate  and  encourage  in  his  wife 
elements  of  bravery,  of  self-respect,  of  in- 
dependence of  character. 

Every  normal  woman  desires  children  by 
the  man  she  loves ;  and  it  is  a  crying  evil, 
and  a  social  blunder  that  our  asylums  and 
sanitariums  should  be  filled  with  women 
whose  thwarted  desires  in  this  direction 
have  been  the  cause  of  their  condition,  while 
the  brothel  thrives,  and  houses  of  assigna- 
tion are  found  on  almost  every  street  of 
our  large  cities. 

In  the  larger  sight  and  broader  thought 
of  the  new  century,  can  we  not  see  a  wiser, 
because  a  more  tolerant,  social  system,  may 
we  not  foretell  a  time  when  the  marriage 
of  a  man  and  a  woman  will  be  to  a  large 
extent  a  matter  of  personal  private  con- 
science; when  the  severance  of  the  tie,  if 


222  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

it  be  necessary,  will  be  attended  with  no 
fears  of  legal  punishment,  or  of  social  os- 
tracism; when  the  word  "bond"  shall  have 
disappeared  from  such  relationship,  and  the 
union  be  one  of  pure  mutual  need,  of 
happy  companionship? 

Is  it  not  an  insult  to  the  intelligence  and 
right  feeling  of  men  and  women  to  premise 
that  it  is  legal  pressure  alone  that  pre- 
serves order  and  decency  in  the  marriage 
relation?  Suppose  the  relation  were  made 
more  free,  a  matter  of  private  arbitrament, 
— would  that  necessarily  imply  added  care- 
lessness in  the  making  of  ties,  unlimited 
license,  a  moral  chaos?  Such  a  conclusion 
would  be  not  only  an  affront  to  womanhood, 
but  an  unjustifiable  and  uncalled-for  dispar- 
agement of  the  minds  and  moral  sense  of 
men  and  women.  Is  it  law  solely  that  pre- 
vents us  all  from  being  thieves  ? 

The  sense  of  moral  obligation  that  would 
preserve  a  man  from  crime,  even  in  a 
community  that  existed  without  definite 
punitive  enactments,  would  also  restrain 
him  in  other  moral  temptations,  and  more 
especially  in  the  case  of  a  deed  involving 
such  far-reaching  consequences.  There  is 
no  man,  however  base,  with  whom  the 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       223 

thought  of  responsibility  for  a  new  exis- 
tence does  not  weigh  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent;  in  many  cases  there  is  a  strong  and 
involuntary  shrinking  from  the  possibilities 
of  paternity.  An  instinctive  dread  of  an 
accountability  for  his  offspring  is  inherent 
in  the  average  man.  And  if  this  be  the  case 
with  the  less  conscientious  and  less  impli- 
cated sex,  what  of  the  other?  Can  we,  with 
any  show  of  reason,  think  of  a  woman  as 
likely  to  act  with  carelessness  or  indifference 
in  a  matter  so  vital  to  herself  and  to  the 
children  who  are  dearer  to  her  than  her  own 
existence?  If  to  woman  were  left  the  ulti- 
mate decision  in  matters  sexual,  if  the  man 
looked  to  her  intuitive  feeling  as  a  guide, 
he  would  make  fewer  and  less  grievous 
mistakes. 

As  compensation  for  her  less  logical  and 
less  incisive  turn  of  mind,  woman  has  been 
given  a  more  delicate  perception,  an  innate 
appreciation  of  family  and  race  needs  that 
is  lacking  in  the  man.  She  instinctively 
rejects  what  is  hurtful  to  her  offspring;  her 
instincts  are  primal. 

And  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  were 
present  custom  reversed,  and  the  choice  of 
a  life  partner  left  in  the  hands  of  a  woman, 


224  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

the  change  would  result  in  a  finer  order  of 
beings,  physically  and  intellectually.  Al- 
though a  reversal  to  primitive  times  in  this 
regard  may  not  readily  obtain,  nor  indeed  be 
practicable  under  existing  conditions,  we 
must  perforce  do  our  part  to  hasten  an  era 
of  more  rational  thought  and  practice. 

At  the  present  day  the  matrimonial  sit- 
uation is  farcical.  A  girl  is  supposed,  until 
such  time  as  a  man,  looking  upon  her  with 
favor,  sees  fit  to  tell  her  so,  to  be  a  creat- 
ure without  eyes,  heart,  or  sex;  she  does 
not  dream  of  the  possibility  that  he  may 
ask  for  her  love  until  the  words  are  fairly 
out  of  his  mouth;  she  receives  his  words 
of  passion  with  a  blushing  astonishment, 
but  apparently,  by  some  work  of  magic  sud- 
denly discovers  that  there  is  something  in 
her  feeling  that  corresponds  to  his.  Even 
when  the  bargain  is  struck,  and  the  wed- 
ding trousseau  is  being  prepared,  she  may 
not  think  of  marriage  or  of  what  it  implies, 
except  in  the  jvaguest  way. 

Where  the  wedding  tour  is  to  be  is  a 
legitimate  subject  for  thought  and  discus- 
sion; the  walls  and  furniture  of  the  future 
home  may  profitably  be  dwelt  upon;  but  of 
the  most  important  element  of  the  new  life, 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       225 

of  the  near,  tender,  wonderful  relationship 
that  is  to  alter  her  whole  trend  of  life  and 
thought,  the  vital,  essential,  significant  fac- 
tor in  the  new  life,  that  is  the  thing  which 
a  "nice-minded"  girl  is  expected  to  ignore. 
To  think  of  what  marriage  implies  before 
such  marriage  is  consummated,  would  be 
the  height  of  indelicacy. 

Only  a  few  degrees  less  improper  would 
have  been  the  evincing  of  a  preference  for 
the  man  before  he  had  made  an  open  a- 
vowal  of  love. 

What  an  obvious  absurdity,  and  yet  one 
about  which  the  clouds  of  social  tradition 
still  resolutely  wrap  themselves. 

Can  we  not  conceive  of  a  happier  union, 
based  upon  honesty  and  good  faith,  rather 
than  upon  pretense  and  shallow  ignorance; 
where  frankness  is  the  starting  point,  and 
a  happy  recognition  of  mutual  needs  joined 
to  a  sound  knowledge,  the  glad  wayfaring, 
where  a  woman  may  show  her  inclination 
and  desires  as  openly  as  a  man,  without  fear 
of  misconstruction,  and  where  society  will 
recognize  that  by  furthering  such  methods 
its  interests  will  be  the  better  served? 

Society  will  have  to  undergo  some  trans- 
formation, certainly,  before  it  will  be  pos- 


226  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

sible  for  a  woman  fearlessly  and  without 
reserve  to  seek  out  a  man  who  pleases  her 
soul  and  sense,  who  by  his  physical  and 
mental  eminence  would  seem  a  worthy  fa- 
ther of  her  children.  Yet  if  the  change  of 
view  and  intention  be  desirable,  we  will  some 
day  attain  to  it,  and  to  that  end  we  will 
continue  to  energize  and  agitate  till  an  effete 
and  inefficient  custom  sets  to  work,  perforce, 
to  sew  its  own  shroud. 

Does  it  not  follow  as  a  matter  of  course 
that  with  the  desire  to  find  favor  in  the 
discriminating  eyes  of  the  mothers  of  the 
race  would  come  to  the  man  an  accordant 
improvement  in  habits  and  life,  that  the 
feverish  desire  to  conserve  her  beauty,  as 
evinced  by  the  unmarried  woman  of  today, 
would  find  its  counterpart  in  the  strong 
effort  to  preserve  and  intensify  the  physical 
perfection  of  a  man's  youth,  and  his  cor- 
responding mental  and  moral  health? 

Founding  our  marriage,  then,  on  a  firmer 
and  more  enduring  basis,  and  one  which 
furthers  at  once  individual  and  universal 
interests,  we  would  fain  have  the  years  that 
follow  regulated  by  a  similar  standard  of 
honesty,  good  sense,  and  personal  indepen- 
dence. The  old  property  interest  in  the  wife 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       227 

being  gone,  the  man  and  woman  standing 
on  the  level  ground  of  a  common  interest 
and  a  common  responsibility,  the  old  sub- 
mission and  coercion  would  also  become 
things  of  the  past.  Compliance,  concession, 
self-denial,  would  still  exist,  as  it  is  inevit- 
able in  every  companionship  of  two  dis- 
similar beings;  but  it  would  be  a  mutual 
conformity. 

As  between  soul  and  body,  so  between 
husband  and  wife  there  must  be  the  abso- 
lute harmony  that  is  the  result  of  personal 
liberty  and  equal  rights,  if  there  is  to  be 
the  beauty  of  a  perfect  union. 

Liberty  of  outside,  individual  (friendships, 
liberty  of  free  coming  and  going,  liberty 
of  complete  possession  of  their  own  bodies, 
these  follow  as  a  natural  consequence.  The 
marital  act,  no  longer  insisted  upon  as  a 
right,  nor  prostituted  into  a  more  or  less 
automatic  and  impassionate  observance,  will 
be  a  mutual  sweet  delight;  the  call  of  the 
mate,  the  glad  response;  such  a  physical 
union  will  be  the  ideal  prelude  to  the  con- 
ception of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
new  era. 

It  may  be  said,  without  much  fear  of  con- 
tradiction, that  the  vulgarization  of  marriage 


228  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

is  the  death  of  love.  The  romance  of  the 
relationship  must  be  preserved  at  all  costs, 
or  joy  will  die,  as  the  fresh  seed  decays 
in  a  season  of  perpetual  rain. 

A  wise  man  or  woman  will  always  main- 
tain a  certain  aloofness  even  in  the  midst 
of  the  greatest  exuberance  of  affection; 
give  the  true  impression  that  there  is  some- 
thing in  reserve,  an  underlying  grace  or 
sweetness  that  lies  back  even  of  the  present 
happiness. 

In  a  woman's  nature,  especially,  there  is 
the  strong  temptation  to  give  too  lavishly, 
to  keep  nothing  for  the  furture;  and  in 
many  cases  she  cannot  understand  how, 
such  giving  becomes  satiating,  even  nause- 
ating to  a  robust  man.  Her  delicate  arts, 
like  the  sweet  coquetries  of  her  sister,  the 
bird,  were  given  to  her  to  use;  she  can  make 
herself  irresistably  fascinating  to  her  hus- 
dand  until  old  age  surprises  them  in  the 
midst  of  youthful  raptures.  Old  age  does 
not  necessarily  run  away  with  the  pleasures 
of  those  who  are  whole  and  sane;  the  heart 
and  the  senses  do  not  age  with  the  face, 
and  the  joys  of  physical  possession  need 
not  end  with  the  fulfilment  of  the  three- 
score years  and  ten. 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       229 

A  reasonable  jealousy  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  fascination  and  sweets  of  marital 
intercourse  would  suggest  separate  sleeping- 
apartments.  The  idea  has  been  so  vigorously 
attacked  by  members  of  the  old  social 
school  that  a  word  may,  very  properly,  be 
said  in  reply. 

In  the  first  place,  physicians  universally 
concur  in  the  opinion  that  it  is  inadvisable 
and  unhygienic  for  two  persons  to  occupy 
the  same  bed.  Without  going  into  a  de- 
tailed explanation  of  the  reasons  for  this 
thought,  I  would  simply  state  that  number- 
less cases  are  known  where  the  stronger  of 
the  two  bedfellows  sapped  the  strength  of 
the  weaker,  appropriating,  with  his  more 
vigorous  constitution,  more  than  his  share 
of  the  life-giving  properties  of  the  air,  and, 
in  some  as  yet  unexplained  way,  vampiris- 
ing  the  weaker  organism. 

The  truth  of  this  has  been  so  generally 
recognised  that  it  is  rare  to  find,  as  was 
common  in  past  days,  a  home  where  the 
child  of  the  family  is  allowed  to  be  the 
sleeping-partner  of  the  aunt  or  grandmother. 

The  plea  most  often  urged  in  favor  of 
the  double-bed  arrangement  is  of  a  two- 
fold character;  it  refers  first  to  the  sense  of 


230  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

personal  security,  on  the  part  of  the  wife, 
in  the  nearness  of  a  strong  man;  and  second, 
to  the  sweet  affectionateness  of  the  situation. 

In  reply  I  would  argue  for  a  more  vigor- 
ous and  healthy  mind  and  body  on  the  part 
of  the  woman;  that  she  may  be  a  prey  to 
terrors  neither  of  ghosts  nor  burglars;  a 
valorous  and  intrepid  spirit  is  quite  com- 
patible with  a  strictly  feminine  nature. 

In  answer  to  the  second  division  of  the 
argument  I  would  suggest  that  the  occupy- 
ing of  separate  sleeping  apartments  does 
not  necessarily  imply  total  banishment  of 
the  other  half  of  the  marriage  entity;  while 
asleep  the  question  of  companionship  is 
immaterial,  and  there  is  no  reasonable  ob- 
jection that  I  can  see,  to  pre-dormial  or 
ante-dormial  hospitality. 

The  point  is  the  preservation  of  all  the 
beauty  pertaining  to  the  relationship  of  the 
sexes;  individual  possibilities  will  determine 
the  method. 

And  here  I  must  reiterate  that,  if  there 
is  to  be  a.determining  power  as  to  the  times 
and  seasons  of  sexual  intimacy  the  choice 
should  lie  with  the  woman.  Her  responsi- 
bility is  greater,  therefore  she  should  have 
greater  freedom;  the  consequences  and  de- 


MARRIAGE  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL   23! 

terminations  rest  upon  her,  therefore  she 
should  direct  the  cause. 

In  the  ideal  alliance,  as  before  hinted, 
there  is  no  /  and  you,  no  "my  way"  and 
"your  way;"  and  the  coming  together  of 
two  who  love  should  be  as  instinctive  and 
natural  as  the  spring  mating  of  the  thrushes. 

The  refinement  of  married  life  is  made 
up  of  small  attentions.  Many  a  woman, 
eagerly  desirous  of  being  a  devoted  wife 
has  made  the  fatal  mistake,  in  the  early 
days  of  marriage,  of  taking  upon  herself 
the  performance  of  little  acts  of  courtesy 
and  service  that  fall  by  right  to  the  husband. 

No  attention  is  sweet  that  has  been  ex- 
acted; but  there  is  no  reason  or  excuse  for 
the  neglect,  after  marriage,  of  the  little 
amentities  and  graceful  courtesies  of  court- 
ship. A  wife  who  runs  to  shut  a  door  or 
pick  up  a  dropped  article  when  her  husband 
has  started  to  do  it  for  her,  has  given  him 
his  first  lesson  in  married  selfishness  and 
forged  the  first  link  in  the  chain  of  that 
inconsiderateness  and  egotism  of  which  she 
complains  so  bitterly  in  after  years. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  require  a  devotion 
that  is  not  prompted  by  affection  would  be 
the  height  of  stupidity.  And  a  due  appre- 


232  WOMAN   AND    THE    RACE 

ciation  of  the  little  offices  performed  is  ob- 
viously necessary  to  their  voluntary  con- 
tinuance. 

The  cultivation  of  a  sense  of  humor  is  of 
a  most  desirable  effort  on  the  part  of  hus- 
bands and  wives.  More  homes  have  been 
made  unhappy  through  one  or  other  of  the 
married  pair's  taking  himself  or  herself  too 
seriously  than  from  any  other  one  cause. 
If  the  jealous  wife,  who  works  herself  into 
a  condition  of  nervous  fury  over  an  inno- 
cent attention  to  another  woman,  or  who 
dissolves  into  tears  because  her  husband 
fails  to  account  for  one  half-hour  in  his 
day,  could  only  view  the  situation,  for  a 
moment,  from  a  disinterested  standpoint, 
and  see  the  absurdity  of  her  mental  attitude, 
there  would  be  fewer  men  to  take  refuge 
at  the  club  or  to  seek  amusement  and  dis- 
traction outside  the  home. 

Jealousy  is  a  stupid,  selfish  and  humiliat- 
ing emotion. 

There  should  be  in  ideal  marriage  ab- 
solute freedom  as  to  the  comings  and  go- 
ings; liberty  of  individual  friendships  and 
whole-souled  recognition  on  both  sides  of 
the  need  of  other  companionship  than  that 
afforded  by  conjugal  life. 


MARRIAGE  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL   233 

Where  there  is  such  knowledge  of  hu- 
man needs  and  also  willingness  for  the 
partner  to  lead  his  or  her  individual  life  as 
he  or  she  may  think  best,  without  dictation 
or  jealousy,  there  we  find  happy,  cheerful 
homes. 

Many  lives  are  made  miserable  through 
the  unreasoning  jealousy  of  wives.  There 
are  some  women  so  constituted  that  a  light, 
unconsidered  word  of  appreciation  of  some 
woman  —  any  woman  —  will  make  them 
sulk  for  days,  rendering  the  home  any- 
thing but  an  earthly  paradise. 

It  would  show  the  most  profound  ego- 
tism to  assume  that  one  could  in  one's 
own  person  fill  all  the  needs  of  a  man's 
social  and  intellectual  life.  And  a  wife 
who  is  a  real  lover  will  be  glad  to  see  her 
husband  enjoy  friendships  with  women 
who  will  sharpen  his  wits  and  aid  his  de- 
velopment. 

It  is  a  grave  question  as  to  how  far  a 
wife  is  justified  in  claiming  certain  hours 
as  her  right.  The  loving  husband  will  not 
need  her  reminders  nor  her  tears  to  keep 
him  home  in  the  evenings.  Presumably, 
since  he  chose  her  out  of  all  women  to 
be  his  partner,  he  loves  her  best  and  en- 


234  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

joys  most  what  she  can  give  him.  If  she 
recognizes  this,  and  is  not  a  victim  of  that 
deadliest  of  all  foes  to  domestic  happiness 
—  jealousy  —  she  will  be  happy  in  any 
event. 

There  are  wives  who  are  jealous  of  their 
husbands'  own  families;  who  resent  a  hus- 
band's visiting  his  mother  or  his  sisters,  as 
if  such  an  act  implied  an  infidelity. 

With  our  broader  outlook  and  our  en- 
larged interests  women  are  growing  beyond 
such  pettiness.  The  man  whom  we  honor 
with  our  love  we  must  trust  absolutely, 
and  he  will  be  worthy  of  it. 

If  there  were  more  unselfish  loving,  and 
less  sense  of  ownership  and  wifely  rights, 
there  would  be  fewer  divorces  and  more 
happy  homes. 

In  looking  for  desirable  characteristics 
in  a  possible  life-partner,  after  satisfaction 
as  to  the  fundamental  moral  soundness  of 
the  individual,  look  for  what  is  better  than 
accomplishments,  better  than  beauty,  better 
than  housewifely  aptitude, —  I  mean  a  sense 
of  humor. 

In  the  married  life  of  America  to-day, 
there  is  a  significant  lack  of  the  helpmeet 
element.  There  is  no  balance  of  work. 


MARRIAGE  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL   235 

~» 

Servants  perform  the  household  labor, 
while  the  wife's  duty  seems  to  lie  almost 
solely  in  the  discharge  of  self-imposed 
social  obligations. 

The  husband  spends  all  day  in  the  office, 
counting-house  or  store,  every  energy  bent 
to  the  task  of  accumulating  enough  money 
to  satisfy  the  heavy  demands  of  the  house- 
hold. In  the  majority  of  cases  in  the  so- 
cial world  a  man's  wife  is  a  drag  upon  him, 
spending  his  money  without  consideration, 
and,  apparently  regarding  him  chiefly  as  a 
source  of  unlimited  dresses  and  gewgaws. 
As  a  reward  for  incessant,  nerve-destroying 
toil,  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that 
his  wife  is  as  well  dressed  as  the  wife  of 
a  more  opulent  neighbor;  that  his  house- 
hold appointments  are  perfect,  that  his  deli- 
cately nurtured  spouse  is  able  to  spend  all 
the  summer  in  coolness,  dainty  frocks, 
and,  perhaps,  flirtation.  In  return  for  this 
he  expects  or  at  least  exercises  entire  free- 
dom in  matters  sexual  when  she  is  absent, 
and  an  unbridled  license  as  far  as  her  bodily 
self  is  concerned  when  she  is  present. 

And  for  a  luxurious  home  and  freedom 
from  care,  she  pays  the  price  of  bodily 
subjection,  just  as  surely  as  does  the  des- 
pised outcast  from  society. 


236 WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

A  newspaper  editorial,  recently  printed, 
takes  the  side  of  the  man  in  the  matter 
of  the  bachelor  tax.  The  writer  draws 
attention  to  the  consideration  that,  while 
men  are  usually  thoroughly  fitted  for  the 
positions  they  occupy,  have  made  them- 
selves masters  of  their  business,  the  girls 
they  marry  or  might  marry  are  unprepared 
for  their  duties,  and,  in  most  cases,  have 
little  knowledge,  scientific  or  practical,  of 
the  most  important  of  their  functions  as 
caterers  and  home-makers.  He  illustrates 
his  argument  with  the  question  as  to  how 
many  women  know  how  to  boil  an  egg 
properly,  so  that  the  egg  may  be  of  the 
same  consistency  throughout. 

The  point  is  well  taken.  I  like  the  at- 
titude, though  not  for  the  same  reason  nor 
in  the  same  spirit  as  the  writer  of  the  edi- 
torial. I  would  say,  in  passing,  that  the 
trend  of  present-day  education  is  towards 
the  end  desired;  our  girls  will  be  better 
equipped,  will  have  a  surer  scientific 
knowledge  of  dietetics  and  of  the  proper 
preparation  of  food  as  time  goes  on;  and 
it  is  the  duty  of  every  mother  to  make 
careful  housekeeping  and  culinary  profici- 
ency an  important  part  of  her  daughter's 
education. 


MARRIAGE  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL   237 

The  new  thought  suggested  is  this.  Let 
the  law  take  cognizance  of  marriage  as 
purely  a  business  contract,  a  home  and  sup- 
port on  the  one  hand,  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  housekeeping  and  practical  ex- 
perience therein  on  the  other,  —  there  the 
law  is  in  its  element  and  should  be  called 
upon  to  settle  any  violations  of  contract. 
But  with  the  delicate  subject  of  love  the 
law  is  a  blundering,  impertinent  interloper; 
the  giving  of  her  body  to  the  man  she 
loves  should  be,  surely,  a  sacred  and  a 
personal  matter,  if  anything  on  earth  can 
be. 

I  believe  that  marriage  is  a  necessary 
part  of  our  present  development,  a  social 
necessity,  and  in  existence  today  because 
we,  as  a  whole,  desire  it.  I  think,  how- 
ever, that  the  popular  feeling  that  marriage 
is  a  bargain  and  sale,  with  a  feminine  body 
as  the  object  of  barter,  is  responsible  for 
much  of  our  social  unhappiness. 

Let  the  marriage,  therefore,  as  far  as 
the  law  is  concerned  (in  our  more  ad- 
vanced social  life)  be  a  matter  of  business, 
a  purely  practical  contract,  and  offences 
against  marriage  be  treated  in  the  courts 
as  are  violations  of  other  business  con- 


238  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

tracts;  but  leave  the  sacred  questions  per- 
taining to  love  in  the  shrine  where  they 
belong,  the  inner,  deeper,  holier  sanctuary 
that  lies  at  the  heart  of  every  high-souled, 
fine  man,  and  every  sensitive,  delicately- 
minded  woman. 

We  have  been  arguing  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  monogamy  is  the  universal  cus- 
tom in  the  social  life  of  today;  if  such 
were  the  case  in  the  face  of  the  mismat- 
ing  and  inharmony  that  is  so  general,  it 
would  argue  such  a  magnificent  power  of 
endurance,  and  such  a  loyal  obedience  to 
law,  that  we  should  be  driven  into  an  ad- 
miring silence. 

That  such  is  not  the  case,  we  are  only 
too  well  aware.  There  are  enough  covert 
polygamous  unions  in  New  York  City  to 
show  that  if  monogamy  is,  as  we  believe 
it  to  be,  the  natural  evolutionary  law  of 
human  sex-relationship,  there  must  be  some- 
thing radically  wrong  in  the  present  regu- 
lations regarding  it.  Are  all  the  visitors 
to  houses  of  ill-repute  unmarried  men  ?  Not 
by  a  vast  number.  How  many  members 
of  fashionable  churches  keep  up  another 
establishment  than  that  to  which  their 
friends  are  invited?  We  have  but  to  in- 


MARRIAGE  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL   239 

quire  into  the  subject  to  find  that,  how- 
ever it  may  be  with  women,  monogamy 
with  men  is,  in  many  cases,  but  a  name. 

On  the  reasons  for  the  failure  of  the 
present  system  we  have  already  touched. 
Lack  of  knowledge  on  the  part  of  young 
people,  a  law  that  insists  on  the  life  bond- 
age of  men  aud  women  whom  a  few 
months  of  married  life  have  shown  to  be 
utterly  incompatible;  these  are  the  two 
fundamental  causes. 

To  suggest  an  improvement  is  simple 
enough;  to  put  it  into  practice  in  face  of 
the  opposition  of  a  conservative  and  self- 
satisfied  Society,  is  another  matter. 

First,  then,  I  would  have  our  boys  and 
girls  thoroughly  and  wisely  instructed  as 
to  sex  needs,  instincts,  and  powers,  taught 
to  distinguish  between  a  flash  of  animal 
passion  and  the  wise  love  than  means  a 
life's  devotion;  taught  the  innate  beauty 
and  purity  of  the  human  body,  whether  it 
be  male  or  female. 

If  a  girl  were  given  a  high  idea  of  the 
uses  of  her  wonderful  body;  a  boy  an  in- 
tense reverence  for  womanhood  as  the 
potential  motherhood  of  the  race;  if  both 
were  taught  to  realize  to  the  full  their  in- 


240  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

dividual  powers  and  to  see  the  beauty  of 
a  wise  conservation  of  such  powers,  I  be- 
lieve that  we  could  trust  them  to  mingle 
freely  with  confidence  in  their  discretion. 

I  believe  monogamy  to  be  the  natural 
condition  of  healthy  human  life  to-day; 
it  is  common  among  a  number  of  the 
lower  animals,  and  is  certainly  a  beau- 
tiful and  ideal  relationship  among  creatures 
of  mind  and  soul.  The  following  extract 
from  a  letter  occurring  in  an  article  en- 
titled: "Divorce  in  the  United  States," 
published  in  the  Contemporary  Review, 
offers  a  practical  suggestion  as  to  future 
marriage  possibilities  and  ideals. 

"  I  cannot  promise  to  conform  to  your 
ways,  nor  to  bend  to  your  wishes,  though 
I  will  try  to  do  so.  I  cannot  promise  to 
assume  cordial  relations  with  your  rela- 
tives, nor  accept  your  friendships  as  bind- 
ing upon  me.  I  cannot  promise  to  be  faith- 
ful to  you  until  death,  but  I  shall  be  faithful 
so  long  as  I  fill  the  relation  of  husband  to 
you.  I  shall  not  lead  a  double  life,  nor 
conceal  from  you  any  change  in  my  regard 
for  you.  If  at  any  time  I  meet  a  woman 
whom  I  feel  I  should  live  with  rather  than 
with  you,  I  shall  tell  you  of  her  with  per- 


MARRIAGE  ACTUAL  AND  IDEAL   24! 

feet  frankness.  I  think  I  shall  find  you  all- 
sufficient,  but  I  don't  know.  It  may  be  that 
I  shall  become  and  continue  the  most  de- 
voted of  husbands,  but  I  cannot  promise  it. 
Long  years  of  association  develop  intoler- 
able traits  in  men  and  women,  very  often. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  me  say  that  I  ex- 
act nothing  from  you.  You  are  mistress  of 
yourself;  come  and  go  as  you  please, 
without  question  and  without  accounting  to 
me.  You  are  at  liberty  to  cease  your  as- 
sociation with  me  at  any  time,  and  to  con- 
sider yourself  perfectly  free  to  leave  me 
whenever  any  other  man  comes  with  power 
to  make  you  happier  than  I. 

I  want  you  as  comrade  and  lover,  not  as 
subject  or  servant,  or  unwilling  wife.  I  do 
not  claim  any  rights  over  you  at  all.  You 
can  bear  me  children  or  not,  just  as  you 
please.  You  are  a  human  soul  like  myself, 
and  I  expect  you  to  be  as  free  and  sov- 
ereign as  I. 

I  have  written  frankly  because  I  believed 
it  would  prejudice  you  in  my  favor.  Had 
I  believed  otherwise,  doubtless  I  should 
have  written  in  terms  of  flattery  and  de- 
ceit, for  of  such  is  man  when  seeking 
woman  in  marriage." 


242  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

I  think  too  highly  of  the  character  and 
mental  power  of  human  creatures  to  be 
willing  to  admit  by  ever  so  slight  a  con- 
cession that  it  is  only  the  fear  of  the  pen- 
alties of  law  that  keeps  a  husband  and  wife 
together. 

Understanding  the  other  sex  more  thor- 
oughly, there  would  be  less  glamor,  more 
common  sense  regarding  the  choice  of  a 
life-partner;  the  responsibilities  to  them- 
selves and  to  the  race  being  more  clearly 
understood  and  appreciated  by  young  men 
and  women,  the  creating  of  a  tie  would  be 
a  thing  of  more  rather  than  of  less  signifi- 
cance than  under  the  present  system;  and 
the  importance  of  wise  parentage  being  the 
capital  factor  in  their  early  training,  the 
question  of  disability  on  that  score  would 
carry  a  weight  that  is  entirely  lacking  to-day. 

While  I  contend  that  such  a  marriage,  so 
considered  and  achieved,  would  be  far  less 
likely  to  prove  a  mistake  than  those  con- 
tracted under  existing  circumstances,  I  real- 
ize fully  that  the  human  mind  is  liable  to 
err,  that  the  judgment  of  young  men  and 
maidens  is  not  perfect,  that  after  an  honest 
trial  of  each  other  our  young  people  might 
find  themselves  still  unmated. 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       243 

In  that  case  I  would  have  a  social  opin- 
ion that  would  allow  them  to  part  as  they 
had  met,  frankly,  without  regret  or  remorse, 
to  find  elsewhere,  by  an  added  experience 
and  an  added  wisdom,  what  the  first  search 
had  not  granted. 

The  question  of  the  care  and  disposition 
of  possible  offspring  is  an  important  one. 
As  in  many  of  the  present  cases  of  di- 
vorce and  separation,  the  disposition  of 
children  might  be  arranged  by  mutual 
agreement;  where  the  father  took  an  in- 
terest in  the  life  and  welfare  of  his  off- 
spring, he  would  certainly  contribute  to  its 
support.  I  would  have  the  woman  pro- 
tected from  possible  irresponsibility  on  the 
part  of  the  father  by  an  insurance  against 
maternity,  payment  for  which  could  be 
made  from  the  time  of  puberty.  Such 
insurance,  the  details  of  which  could  be 
easily  determined  by  a  practical  insurance 
company,  would  cover  her  time  of  en- 
forced idleness  and  provide  for  her  and 
her  child.  Payments  on  such  a  policy 
would  be  made  by  parents  till  she  could 
earn  for  herself,  and  later  by  her  husband 
as  long  as  she  is  under  his  protection. 

The  existence  of  children  would  continue 


244  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

to  exert  a  strong  influence  towards  the 
permanence  of  the  marriage  tie;  a  mutual 
selflessness  for  the  sake  of  the  little  ones 
would  be  the  natural  outcome  of  the  re- 
lationship; a  common  interest  and  a  com- 
mon love  build  a  bulwark  about  the 
marriage  relation  no  matter  what  the  con- 
ditions. 

It  is  the  unquestionable  duty  of  every 
woman  to  ascertain  before  marriage  what 
has  been  the  previous  life  of  her  prospec- 
tive husband.  Were  this  an  unvarying  rule 
it  would  have  a  strong  influence  upon  the 
morals  of  the  race.  While  young  men 
realize  that  no  matter  how  iniquitously  they 
may  have  lived  they  may  yet  expect  to 
take  to  their  arms  a  sweet  pure-living 
maiden,  there  will  be  little  chance  of  a 
change  in  their  mode  of  life. 

One  of  the  present  great  mistakes  of 
lovers  is  the  exalting  of  the  so-called  sex- 
act  into  a  position  of  undue  prominence; 
thereby  giving  it  an  importance  that  does 
not  legitimately  belong  to  it.  Would  they 
but  cast  their  eyes  and  thoughts  a  little 
higher,  and  look  to  the  exquisite,  ethical 
significance  of  love,  there  would  be  less 
prostitution  of  powers,  less  mental  retribu- 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       245 

tive  agony,  less  martyrdoms,  and  fewer  sex- 
ual mistakes. 

Love  holds  a  perfect  sway,  if  he  be  but 
allowed  to  do  it;  he  speaks  through  near, 
dear  comradeship,  through  the  language  of 
the  eyes,  through  sweet  caresses.  The  sex- 
act  should  be  an  occasional,  final  expres- 
sion, an  expression  made  possible  only 
by  powerful  passion.  The  rushing  to  the 
act  as  the  only  possibility,  the  striving  for 
physical  expression,  sometimes  with  weary 
effort,  is,  not  to  consider  the  subject  more 
deeply,  the  sheerest  stupidity. 

The  sex-act  is  only  justifiable  as  the  ul- 
timate expression  of  a  passionate  love;  to 
use  it  in  any  other  way  is  to  emulate 
barnyard  practices  and  intelligences;  to  rate 
our  powers  of  sense  and  our  appreciation 
of  beauty  below  that  of  many  of  the  ani- 
mals whose  actions  we  govern. 

A  marriage  without  love,  whole-souled 
and  devoted,  is  no  marriage,  though  a  bishop 
read  the  church  service,  and  a  thousand 
people  witness  the  ceremony,  and  a  woman 
who  gives  herself  to  a  man  because  of  a 
desire  for  social  position,  wealth,  or  any 
other  cause  save  that  of  deep,  true  and 
passionate  love,  is  living  a  life  of  legalised 
prostitution. 


246  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

Let  those  who  realize  the  truth  of  this? 
fearlessly  state  and  hold  to  their  belief,  and 
the  dawn  of  a  new  day  will  look  over  our 
horizon. 

Having  been  reared  and  educated  with 
a  view  to  maintaining  themselves,  and  being 
cheerfully  accorded,  as  is  but  fair,  the  same 
recompense  for  their  labor  as  that  required 
by  their  brothers,  women  would  cease  to 
sell  themselves  for  clothes  and  a  home,  and 
become  more  fitting  and  useful  mates  for 
the  men  whom  they  should  deem  worthy  to 
become  the  fathers  of  their  children. 

Any  attempt  at  the  revolution  of  a  social 
condition  without  an  accompanying  eleva- 
tion of  ideals  is  but  to  start  an  arrow 
with  a  broken  bow-string.  An  intelli- 
gent sympathy  is  not  sufficient,  there  must 
be  also  a  deep  soul-sprung  conviction  and 
an  earnest  will.  If  the  women  of  America 
would  but  face  the  situation  squarely,  band 
themselves  together  with  a  whole-hearted 
and  intelligent  determination  not  to  be  con- 
tent with  any  imperfect  or  unfair  condi- 
tions, and,  so  minded  and  so  armed,  decide 
upon  a  definite  course  of  action,  I  doubt 
not  that  before  many  decades  were  passed, 
the  sickening  horrors  of  a  so-called  "social 


MARRIAGE    ACTUAL    AND    IDEAL       247 

evil"  would  no  longer  threaten  our  happi- 
ness and  reproach  our  culture,  and  that  a 
generation  of  noble,  heroic,  and  illustrious 
men  and  women  would  be  the  harvest  of 
such  wise  and  high  thinking  and  such 
broad  and  resolute  control. 


THE    JOY    OF    LIFE 


CHAPTER    X 


HERE  are  times  in  the  lives 
of  all  men,  more  often  in 
the  lives  of  poets,  when  the 
troubling  cares  of  labor  cease 
for  a  season,  when  the  dif- 
ficulties that  have  vexed  the 
soul  fret  not  for  a  space,  when  even  the 
great  yearning  to  know,  to  understand, 
stops  for  an  hour  its  ceaseless  urging;  and 
human  life  with  all  its  possibilities  and  all 
its  gladnesses  holds  undisputed  sway. 

The  sky  overhead  is  blue  with  an  indes- 
cribable blueness,  near  the  horizon  it  pales 
into  opal  and  the  mountain  stands  out  clear 
and  black;  the  waves  break  at  the  feet 
with  the  exquisite  monotony  that  lulls  and 
heals;  the  meadows  are  full  of  tender 
shooting  things,  for  the  spring  life  is  start- 
ing, and  in  the  branches  of  the  willows 
and  the  evergreens  the  birds  are  uttering 
love-songs  or  seeking  a  nesting  place;  and 
the  heart  grows  big  with  an  uncompre- 


THE  JOY    OF    LIFE  249 

bended  sympathy  and  throbs  with  a  glad- 
ness that  is  universal  and  primeval;  the 
arms  reach  forth  as  though  to  embrace  the 
entire  cosmos  with  strenuous  gladness,  and 
we  murmur  how  good  a  thing  it  is  to  be 
alive. 

Such,  without  doubt,  is  the  divine  plan; 
for  the  thought  that  human  life  was  in- 
tended as  a  vale  of  tears  I  can  see  no 
argument  that  is  in  any  degree  satisfactory. 
That  life  is  intentionally  bitter  in  order  to 
increase  by  contrast  the  delights  of  a  future 
existence  I  can  find  no  rational  excuse  for 
believing.  That  the  poet,  whose  spirit  is 
so  nearly  akin  to  the  divine,  whose  insight 
penetrates  where  the  uninspired  brain  may 
not  think  to  follow,  experiences  this  joy 
in  existence  more  keenly  and  more  con- 
tinuously than  mere  every-day  mortals  is  a 
more  serious  argument  for  the  wisdom  of 
his  attitude  towards  life  than  the  most  ap- 
parent of  logical  deductions,  the  most  per- 
tinent reasoning.  The  poet  and  the  little 
child  go  hand  in  hand  in  one's  thought, 
both  infinitely  careless  of  material  things, 
both  blessed  by  Heaven-sent  visions;  wan- 
derers in  a  fairy  land  of  unspoiled  beautiful 
things,  nearer  to  the  fount  of  knowledge, 


250  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

to  the  eternal  truth,  to  the  everlasting  source 
of  good  than  saints  who  have  won  their 
crowns  through  thorny  trial  or  wise  men 
who  have  grown  hoary  with  many  decades 
of  mental  toil,  or  have  offered  up  their 
lives  upon  the  altar  of  human  knowledge. 
To  imagine  ourselves  placed  in  a  beau- 
tiful world  to  which  we  are  expected  to 
shut  our  eyes,  surrounded  by  pleasant  things 
which  we  are  forbidden  to  touch,  endowed 
with  a  wonderful  capacity  for  pleasure  and 
required  to  subdue  and  mortify  instead  of 
using  and  enjoying,  is  surely  but  to  cast 
supreme  discredit  on  the  wisdom  that 
planned  our  material  existence.  To  enjoy, 
to  enjoy,  that  is  the  purpose  for  which  we 
were  given  this  glad  world,  these  exquisite 
bodies,  this  brave  mentality;  to  enjoy 
wisely  yet  lustily,  temperately  yet  fully, 
purely  yet  passionately.  To  breathe  in  with 
great  absorbing  breaths  all  the  sweetness 
of  the  beautiful  life  that  Nature  holds  in 
the  hollow  of  her  hand;  to  draw  life-giv- 
ing happiness  into  our  souls  as  the  babe 
draws  its  strength  from  the  mother's  breast; 
to  drink  and  be  satisfied  and  drink  again, 
ever  stronger  and  braver  and  more  desir- 
ous, —  this  is  what,  of  a  surety,  was  de- 


THE  JOY    OF    LIFE  251 

signed  for  us  in  the  great  plan  of  creation- 
To  live  feebly,  to  lack  keen  appreciations, 
to  artificially  stimulate  a  desire  and  faint 
in  the  attempt  to  satisfy  it,  this  is  surely 
as  far  from  the  design  of  a  rational  creator 
as  any  ignorant  thought  or  incontinent  de- 
sire of  man  could  conceive. 

Our  beautiful  human  body!  See  its 
strength,  its  muscles,  its  firmness,  its  elastic- 
ity and  vigor,  its  agility  and  grace.  How 
each  part  harmonizes  with  all  the  rest! 
Harmony  of  outline  and  function,  power  of 
muscle  and  limb,  capacity  for  exquisite 
joy,  why  should  we  not  glory  in  it? 

The  first  throb  of  a  new  life  in  the 
yearning  womb  of  the  mother,  how  it  stirs 
with  an  unknown  joy  the  inmost  depths  of 
the  maternal  heart;  how  she  notes  the  grow- 
ing power  in  the  tiny  unborn  limbs,  and 
glories  in  the  strength  that  shows  it- 
self daily  more  insistant  and  individual. 
The  little  heart,  grown  from  her  body  yet 
marking  the  flowings  of  its  own  life-blood, 
how  wonderfully  it  utters  itself  to  her;  and 
she  walks  among  men  and  moves  about  her 
home  realm  and  takes  part  in  the  ordinary 
duties  of  life  knowing  that,  unacknowledged 
perhaps,  and  certainly  unexplained,  there 


252  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

lies,  back  of  all,  yet  through  all,  the  won- 
derful consciousness  of  an  intimate  sweet 
relationship. 

Sickness  is  a  mistake,  an  error  of  living, 
and  has  no  part  in  the  purpose  of  things; 
these  bodies  were  not  made  for  sickness 
but  for  health,  magnificent  exuberant  health! 
To  walk  for  miles  through  the  dense  woods 
among  sounds  and  sights  of  beauty,  to 
plunge  into  the  cool  water,  swim  and  dive 
till  the  limbs  are  wearied,  and  then  to 
stretch  upon  the  warm  sand  in  utter  relax- 
ation; to  have  stirred  the  brain  to  its  depths 
in  search  of  some  great  thing  and  at  length 
to  have  made  it  ours;  to  have  attempted 
and  accomplished;  to  have  found  a  good 
comrade  and  have  sat  with  him  in  the  si- 
lence of  friendship,  heart  to  heart;  to  have 
gathered  long  sprays  of  new-blown  linnea, 
and  forgotten  oneself  in  half  -  swooning 
ecstacy  over  the  subtle,  penetrating  sweet- 
ness; to  have  hungered  and  thirsted  and 
known  satisfaction  of  the  desire  for  food; 
to  have  known  what  it  is  to  work  and 
weary  and  then  to  sleep  through  long  sweet 
hours;  are  not  these  things  joy?  Joy  of 
the  physical  body  and  brain,  joy  of  the 
glad  perceptive  senses  with  their  treasure- 


THE  JOY    OF    LIFE  253 

house  of  delight.  So  far  from  attempting 
to  restrain  our  pleasure  in  things  physical 
we  should  rather  cultivate  enjoyment,  train 
the  duller  senses  to  perceive  more  fully, 
improve  and  quicken  the  sight  of  the  eyes 
to  the  apprehension  of  lovely  things. 

The  aesthetic  sense  which  is  the  result 
of  mental  refinement,  or  is,  in  itself,  a  dis- 
tinct gift,  is  one  of  the  sources  of  our  keen- 
est enjoyment:  an  appreciation  of  the  beau- 
tiful is  a  never-failing  delight.  The  sight 
of  a  beautiful  man  or  woman  may  give 
pleasure  that  has  in  it  not  the  faintest  sus- 
picion of  evil  thought  or  desire;  the  same 
rapture  that  is  realized  in  the  exquisite  scent 
of  a  flower  or  the  sound  of  illuminating 
music. 

The  true  meaning  of  the  joy  of  life  can 
never  be  understood  by  one  who  lives  un- 
der the  dominion  of  social  conventions; 
to  enjoy  one  must  be  free,  and  the  bond- 
age of  social  customs  is  the  veriest  thral- 
dom. For  what  have  we  been  given  minds 
and  souls  and  intuition?  To  be  slaves  to 
the  warped  fancy  of  a  self-throned  social 
deity;  to  regulate  our  rational  instincts  by 
the  false  plumb-line  of  a  distorted  and  un- 
healthy caricature  of  civilization;  to  leave 


254  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

our  talents  of  free  thought  and  Godlike 
action  tied  up  in  the  napkin  of  an  unholy 
fear;  to  shroud  ourselves  in  the  moth  and 
rust  garment  of  a  lying  respectability  in- 
stead of  standing  in  pure  innocence  to  the 
purging  of  the  winds  of  God? 

We  are  content  for  the  most  part  to  be 
mere  manikins,  clothed  in  garments  of 
which  we  are  proud  because,  forsooth,  they 
are  like  those  of  everybody  else;  governed 
by  a  set  of  stupid  and  senseless  rules  of 
etiquette  and  order;  judging  by  a  code  of 
morals  that  has  its  basis  in  falsehood;  and 
lying  down  to  die,  satisfied,  if  we  have  lived 
in  our  little  world  in  such  a  manner  as  not 
to  have  been  noticed,  our  behavior  such  as 
to  have  called  forth  no  criticism;  a  glori- 
ous ambition  truly,  and  one  that  would  seem 
easy  of  attainment! 

In  the  name  of  God,  let  us  live  our  own 
lives  without  regard  to  the  consequences, 
without  fear  of  criticism;  let  us  be  free 
men  and  women. 

There  is  no  one  in  this  universe  but  our- 
selves and  God;  not  one  single  soul  for 
whose  approbation  it  is  worth  while  to  give 
up  one  precious  moment  of  life.  The  inner 
light,  call  it  conscience,  intuition,  what  you 


THE   JOY    OF    LIFE  255 

will,  the  spark  from  Divinity  that  informs 
and  directs,  that  is  our  safe  guide.  To 
make  ourselves  great,  not  to  serve  personal 
ambitions  but  because  of  inherent  greatness, 
and,  so  doing,  to  refuse  to  be  bound  by  any 
iron-clad  rules  of  society  or  of  merely  con- 
ventional morality,  is  the  only  sanity. 
When  we  have  constituted  ourselves  free  — 
free  to  live  among  our  fellows  but  to  gov- 
ern ourselves,  free  to  dispose  of  our  bodies 
as  our  own  good  sense  dictates,  and  to 
speak  such  things  as  may  seem  to  us  wise 
and  profitable  —  then  shall  we  know  the 
real  joy  of  life. 

To  fear  no  man  —  this  in  itself  constitutes 
a_  gladness.  And,  being  free,  to  joy  in  our 
freedom  to  give  happiness  and  beauty  to 
others,  this  is,  after  all,  the  supreme  secret. 
Freedom  and  altruism  go  hand  in  hand. 
To  be  free  does  not  mean  aloofness;  we 
can  never  stand  alone.  Brotherhood  is  the 
universal  law,  and  our  interdependence  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  as  it  is  one  of 
the  most  practical  features  of  our  present 
existence.  To  know  ourselves  members  of 
one  great  family,  to  do  away  forever  with 
the  sense  of  separateness,  to  realize  our  duty 
to  every  common  member  of  the  world 


256  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

circle,  a  duty  of  helpfulness,  of  example, 
of  all  save  servility;  this  is  to  realize  the 
joy  of  life  in  the  gladness  of  service. 

Such  a  knowledge,  fully  ours,  will  in 
time  bring  about  that  international  and  cos- 
mopolitan feeling  that  makes  for  universal 
peace.  And  the  realization  of  the  meaning 
of  the  joy  of  life  will  render  the  taking  of 
life  a  horror  and  an  impossibility.  The 
destruction  of  a  God-given  element,  the 
taking  away  of  something  which  no  power 
can  ever  restore,  the  wilful  prevention  of  a 
present  possible  advancement, — this  is  surely 
not  the  unimportant  thing  which  universal 
action  seems  to  suggest. 

Capital  punishment  is  revenge,  and  does 
not  right  the  wrong,  does  not  adjust  a 
faulty  balance;  and  the  hewing  and  hack- 
ing of  one's  fellowmen  as  a  means  of  sat- 
isfying national  honor  is  a  relic  of  savagery 
and  of  the  childhood  of  the  world. 

To  descend  from  the  greater  to  the  les- 
ser, I  would  that  every  careless  woman 
who,  to  adorn  her  own  person,  is  the  cause 
of  the  slaughter  of  helpless,  innocent  birds 
might  be  obliged,  to  accomplish  her  end, 
to  take  with  her  own  hand  the  life  that  is 
necessary  to  the  satisfying  of  her  vanity. 


THE  JOY    OF    LIFE  257 

To  watch  the  quivering  death  agonies  of  a 
gentle  and  unoffending  song  bird,  and  then 
to  wear  it  with  satisfaction  and  pride  among 
the  lace  and  ribbons  of  her  hat,  would 
surely  brand  her  a  creature  without  heart 
or  feeling,  a  monster  in  the  garb  of  fem- 
ininity. 

Let  our  women  live  in  the  open  air,  un- 
der the  eye  of  Heaven,  absorbing  whole- 
some and  invigorating  thought,  not  on  the 
soft  sofa  of  the  idle  and  luxurious,  dead- 
ening the  brain  and  enervating  the  senses 
by  the  incessant  imbibing  of  the  degener- 
ating and  demoralizing  fiction  of  the  day. 

Biologists  tell  us  that  the  prolongation  of 
the  reproductive  period  means  a  lengthen- 
ing of  life;  it  follows  therefore  that  a  rea- 
sonable continence,  a  temperate  indulgence 
in  bodily  pleasures  is  the  truest  wisdom; 
the  abuse  of  a  power  simply  means  its  de- 
cay. To  -prolong  joy;  is  not  this  what  we 
all  crave? 

If  perfection  is  harmony,  is  not  intem- 
perance, which  is  inharmony,  a  deadly  sin 
against  ourselves  ?  To  carry  our  capacity 
of  enjoyment  on  through  middle  life  into 
a  sane  and  wonderful  old  age;  to  hold  our 
mental  and  sexual  faculties  and  apprecia- 


258  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

tions  in  a  firm  grasp;  to  be  masters  of 
ourselves  till  the  end  of  life,  no  matter 
what  the  future,  is  not  this  the  most  ob- 
vious wisdom?  There  is  joy  in  the  mastery 
of  a  bodily  temptation  like  the  joy  in  the 
taming  of  a  wild  beast;  we  know  whence 
the  exultation  comes,  it  is  the  triumph  of 
the  greater  passion  over  the  lesser,  of  the 
higher  over  the  lower,  of  the  reality  over 
the  seeming. 

Can  we  not  see  the  day  approaching 
when  love  will  draw  a  man  and  a  woman 
out  of  the  relaxing  warmth  of  over-crowded 
houses  into  the  largeness  and  grace  of  na- 
ture's haunts  and  home;  when  the  ideal  in 
the  surroundings  of  love  will  be  the  silent 
forest  and  the  rushing  stream;  when  the 
consummation  of  a  grand  and  godly  im- 
pulse will  be  accompanied  by  the  fine  roar- 
ing of  the  wind,  or  the  sweet  symphonies 
of  the  birds,  when  lovers  will  hear  the  voice 
of  God  in  the  garden  and  be  not  ashamed  ? 

The  main  secret  of  the  joy  of  life  is 
never  to  look  behind.  Let  the  dead  past 
bury  its  dead.  What  though,  on  the  high- 
road of  bygone  living,  lie  corpses  of  vain 
endeavors,  of  lost  ambition,  of  sadness  and 
sin?  The  broad  white  path  is  before  us, 


THE  JOY    OF   LIFE  259 

we  have  left  the  old  road  behind,  and  we 
cannot  change  it  by  so  much  as  one  dust- 
grain  if  we  would.  Forward,  upward.  The 
old  experience  is  ours  to  use;  there  is  not 
one  failure,  nay,  there  is  not,  —  I  say  it 
thoughtfully — one  sin,  which  has  not  made 
of  us  something  more  than  we  were.  Our 
all-embracing  sympathy  goes  out  to  all  who 
fail,  to  all  who  have  sinned,  and  the  feet 
are  firmer  than  of  old.  Despair  and  re- 
morse are  as  unphilosophical  as  they  are 
harmful.  Shall  we  sit  still  and  grieve  that 
our  great  tree  has  fallen  in  the  autumn 
storm?  Nay,  up  and  plant  in  its  place  a 
fine  young  sapling;  fix  the  roots  firm  and 
deep,  and  watch  with  joy  the  new  growth. 
The  past  is  no  longer  ours,  but  we  hold 
the  future  in  our  hands;  what  shall  we 
make  of  it? 

"God's  in  his  Heaven 
All 's  right  with  the  world." 

Pippa's  little  song  is  truth  itself  though  in 
metaphor.  However  and  with  whatever 
plan  this  great  life  of  ours  started,  ultimate 
good  is  sure.  Evolution  is  the  law,  and 
we  may  not  retrograde  but  in  seeming,  as 
a  climber  mounting  a  sandy  cliff  slips  back 


260  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

somewhat   at   each    step   as    his    feet   too 
sturdily  press  the  yielding  soil. 

"  Life  is  good 

Were  the  one  lesson  understood 
Of  its  most  sacred  brotherhood." 

We  have  a  common  origin,  physically 
and  spiritually;  nothing  can,  if  we  look 
deeply  enough,  harm  one  nation  without  in 
a  lesser  degree  injuring  other  nations;  and 
the  hurt  of  one  man  means  the  hurt  of  all. 
As  a  stone  thrown  into  the  water  starts 
outward  moving  circles  of  wider  and  wider 
extent,  so  the  effect  of  a  deed  once  done 
can  never  be  estimated.  Suppose  that  we 
have  wilfully  injured  a  fellow  being;  we 
have  harmed  our  own  nature,  have  caused 
in  ourself  an  inharmony  that  re-acts  tem- 
porarily on  all  with  whom  we  come  in 
contact,  and  in  that  direction  spreads  itself 
whither  we  may  not  know;  we  become 
the  father  or  mother  of  children  and  the 
spirit  that  made  that  evil  act  possible  is 
handed  on  to  them  and  their  offspring. 
In  like  manner  the  injury  done  will  act  on 
the  one  injured  and  on  his  circle  and  his 
descendants;  no  human  power  of  thought 
can  determine  the  limit  of  one  evil  act. 


THE  JOY    OF    LIFE  26 1 

And  the  converse  is  no  less  true.  Good 
is  eternal,  and  the  far-reaching  result  of  a 
good  deed  is  as  sure  as  eternity. 

We  realize  the  joy  of  life  just  in  so  far 
as  we  strive  to  make  joy  possible  to  others 
and  to  the  world.  Until  the  world  comes 
to  recognize  the  truth  of  eternal  brother- 
hood, until  we  feel  that  the  interests  of 
another  are  as  important  as  our  own,  and 
as  dear  to  us,  until  we  see  in  the  far  fu- 
ture the  dawn  of  a  new  and  broader  social 
system,  and  national  government,  we  must 
wave  the  flag  of  an  individual  freedom  and 
an  individual  sympathy,  and  faint  not  though, 
in  the  dusk  of  halting  opinion  and  old  es- 
tablished customs,  we  may  sometimes  seem 
to  stand  alone.  However  this  may  seem 
to  us,  let  us  be  assured  that  there  are  yet 
"  seven  hundred  in  Israel  who  have  not 
bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.'' 

The  El  Dorado  of  Southey  and  Coler- 
idge we  do  not  expect  to  realize,  at  least 
under  present  prospective  conditions.  Com- 
munists, socialists,  social  and  political  re- 
formers of  all  kinds,  though  actuated  per- 
haps by  the  best  of  motives  and  the  purest 
enthusiasm,  have,  through  some  unforseen 
combination  of  circumstances,  from  a  faulty 


262  WOMAN    AND     THE    RACE 

working  hypothesis,  or  a  wrong  applica- 
tion of  theories,  courted  failure.  But  better 
a  thousand  failures  than  an  unseeing  apathy; 
better  the  mistakes  of  overzealous  enthu- 
siasts than  the  degeneracy  of  self-satisfac- 
tion; better  failure  in  the  cause  of  one's 
fellowmen  than  the  highest  success  that  is 
the  outcome  of  personal  ambition.  So  long 
as  hundreds  are  dying  of  starvation  in  our 
great  cities,  while  the  idle  and  the  indolent 
look  on  indifferently;  so  long  as  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  women  are  for  sale  on  our 
streets  because  there  is  no  bread  for  them 
to  eat;  so  long  as  little  children  are  born 
and  reared  in  filth  and  indecency  while 
tenement  owners  are  fattening  on  their 
degradation;  so  long  as  drink  is  the  only 
relaxation,  and  disease  and  incest  walk 
hand  and  hand  among  the  homes  of  the 
poor,  so  long  must  we  stretch  out  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship  to  any  who  have  in 
their  hearts  a  burning  desire  to  aid  their 
fellowmen,  a  real  and  fruitful  knowledge  of 
the  meaning  and  force  of  the  word  "brother- 
hood." No  political  or  social  reform  can 
ever  accomplish  its  end,  no  national  policy 
can  ever  become  a  lasting  power  unless 
the  fundamental  principle  of  individual  free- 


THE   JOY    OF    LIFE  263 

dom  and  individual  right  is  the  foundation 
stone.  Greed  and  selfishness  as  national 
characteristics  are  but  repeated  in  the  indi- 
vidual, and  so,  inversely,  we  must  educate 
the  individual  if  we  would  expect  a  national 
change  of  base.  Love  for  humanity  com- 
bined with  patience  must  be  the  leaven  set 
working  in  a  selfish  society.  And  for  our 
comfort  we  have  the  knowledge  that  the 
law  of  action  and  reaction  will  fully  arbi- 
trate; there  will  be  a  future  evening  up; 
an  ultimate  though  progressive  adjustment. 

Health,  freedom,  brotherhood,  a  trinity 
whose  unity  implies  the  joy  of  life,  these 
form  our  heritage  if  we  would  but  seize 
upon  it.  But  the  reproach  of  the  Laodi- 
cean church  is  a  reproach  that  falls  upon 
the  great  majority  of  the  world  citizens  to- 
day; we  are  "lukewarm,  and  neither  cold 
nor  hot." 

To  paraphrase  the  words  of  the  Hebrew 
prophet:  we  have  eyes  for  the  lesser  things 
of  life,  but  we  see  not  the  real  issues;  we 
have  ears  that  listen  for  the  praise  of  men, 
but  we  hear  not  the  music  of  the  eternal 
gospel,  the  perpetual  revelation  of  an  ever- 
lasting and  universal  good  will  to  men. 

And  for  the  sweetest  and  most  exquisite 


264  WOMAN    AND    THE    RACE 

of  all  God's  laws,  the  great  law  of  sex,  we 
have  in  our  egotism  and  ignorance  an  un- 
natural and  superficial  judgment  and  an 
oblique  vision. 

There  is  a  glint  of  gold,  however,  in  the 
dawning  of  the  new  thought  that  arises  with 
the  twentieth  century.  There  is  a  restless 
discontent  with  past  ignorance  that  prom- 
ises a  fuller  knowledge  and  a  braver  out- 
look. The  mothers  of  our  land  are  aroused, 
and  the  end  is  not  yet,  for  the  kingdom  of 
a  wise  self-knowledge  "  suffereth  violence, 
and  the  violent  take  it  by  force.'' 


ERRATA 


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Should  Read 

7 

'9 

woman 

women 

62 

II 

fatherhood 

father 

67 

2 

cemetary 

cemetery 

90 

23 

determinately 

determinedly 

93 

4 

consequence 

consequences 

96 

26 

argu- 

argument 

H3 

13 

occurrance 

occurrence 

144 

3 

it 

tt 

191 

25 

as  well  known 

is  well  known 

203 

28 

occurrance 

occurrence 

231 

i 

omit  and  determinations 

232 

4 

omit  second  of 

238 

5 

delicately  minded 

delicate  minded 

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